Most companies house a Human Resources (HR) Department to handle employee and office matters. This includes administering benefits, onboarding employees, and planning company events, but also involves handling more severe issues including harassment, discrimination, workplace safety, and more. If you’ve experienced a serious situation at your workplace, filing a complaint with HR may be [...]
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay employees overtime unless they meet a listed exemption. Several of the exemptions require that the employee be paid a minimum salary amount and also meet a duties test. Recently the government published regulations increasing the salary requirement to the following exemptions: The administrative, executive or [...]
On August 1, 2016, Massachusetts’ Equal Pay Act was amended in order to ensure that all workers in Massachusetts are:1) paid equally for comparable work performed, and: 2) provided the opportunity to earn competitive salaries in the workplace. This new law imposes strict equal pay obligations on employers and limits the information employers can [...]
Under Massachusetts law, employees are entitled to their commission if at the time of the termination, the commission is calculable and all of the requirements to close the sale have been completed. A commission plan that states the employee must be employed when the commission is paid may not be enforceable and cannot be relied [...]
Out of State Employers are required to adhere to Massachusetts employment laws if employees work and reside in Massachusetts. Out of state employers should therefore be aware of many of the laws specific to Massachusetts including a few noted below: Massachusetts Wage Act – failure to properly pay timely wages including overtime provides for automatic [...]
Under Massachusetts law, employers are obligated to allow workers a 30-minute unpaid meal break after every six hours worked. Employees must be relieved of all duties and allowed to leave the work site during the meal break. An employee who is required to perform work the meal break must be paid for the time worked. [...]
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 [...]
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; [...]
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 [...]