The start of a new year is always a good time to review your company policies and ensure that you are in compliance with workplace regulations and requirements. Heading into 2016 employers and employees should be aware of the following: Minimum wage in Massachusetts increases to $10.00 per hour Employers are required to annually provide [...]
Many new young companies seek to compensate their employees with ownership interest in the company. This can be a great thing for both the company and the employer. Giving employees an incentive to help the company grow is a win-win for everyone. But what happens when a company wants to compensate an employee only in [...]
When an employee reports discrimination, harassment, wage violations, of unsafe working conditions to their employer, they expect to do so without fear of retaliation or retribution. Unfortunately that is not always the case. Some managers cross the bounds of appropriate conduct and engage in harassment and/or adversely affect an employee’s employment status such as denying [...]
Many hourly employees feel a loyalty to their employer to do a good job and in some cases, employees are afraid or instructed not to clock all of their hours. If you are an hourly employee you are entitled to be paid for all of your time worked. This includes: working through a lunch break; [...]
Below is a list of common mistakes employers make in wage payments. Untimely payment of wages Massachusetts requires employees paid on an hourly basis to receive their paychecks on a weekly or biweekly basis. Salaried employees can be paid weekly, biweekly or semimonthly. Employers cannot pay salaried employees on a monthly basis unless the employee [...]
Under the new law, organizations with eleven or more employees will be required to provide paid sick time, while organizations with fewer than eleven employees must provide unpaid sick time. Below are the highlights: Employees can earn and use up to 40 hours of sick time per calendar year; Employees can carry over up to [...]
The rules around the timeliness and money to be included in final checks are quite clear, and employers in Massachusetts are only allowed to reduce your final pay check in very limited situations. When you leave a job, you are entitled to be paid for all the hours you have worked and you are entitled [...]
DON’T AGREE TO ANYTHING BEFORE READING BELOW Here are the top 5 things to think about before you sign a forced resignation: Are you being offered anything? If you aren’t being offered severance or something of value in exchange for the resignation, why resign? Let them fire you so you’ll at least get unemployment. Did [...]
Are you docked pay even though you are a salaried employee? You could be entitled to overtime pay! Employees who are exempt under the FLSA are not entitled to overtime. In order to qualify as an exempt employee, the employer must pay you your guaranteed salary every week and cannot deduct your pay except in [...]
State and federal laws currently prohibit discrimination of an employee based on pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions during pregnancy. On March 23, 2010, President Obama expanded protections for nursing mothers, when he signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. One of the provisions of the Act is an amendment to the [...]