After battling all through last year over the issue, democrat NJ Governor Phil Murphy agreed with the democratic-controlled legislature on a bill that will lead to a state minimum wage of $15 per hour as soon as 2024. Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, who has not always seen eye to eye with Murphy, finally brokered the…
Read More »For those who thought the idea of the so-called Millionaire Tax had run its course, think again. You will recall that Massachusetts advocates had teed up a ballot question for last November’s ballot that would have allowed the Bay State to apply a 4% surcharge to incomes over $1 million. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ultimately…
Read More »We’ve been advised by our employment counsel, Morgan Brown & Joy of an apparent glitch in Massachusetts’ legislation signed into law back in the summer. The law, known as the “Grand Bargain” for reasons that elude me, included a 5-year gradual elimination of mandatory premium pay for work on Sundays and holidays in exchange for…
Read More »They haven’t completely gone after straws yet, but the push to ban single use plastic bags kicks into high gear in Boston this week with the city plastic bag ban becoming effective one week from today, on December 14. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh signed the measure back in December of last year after the city…
Read More »Not unlike the waves from minimum wage battles, consideration of so-called Fair Workweek legislation is also spreading across the nation. Fair workweek laws generally provide that employers provide workers with a minimum (usually 10 – 14 days) period of notice of their work schedule and any deviation from that schedule requires an additional “predictability payment”…
Read More »
When it comes to customer loyalty, Dunkin’ may just have an edge on its closest rival Cultivating satisfied, loyal customers has always been an important factor to the success of any business, but since social media has enabled rapid-fire opinion sharing, happy customers are more important today than ever. According to a 2016 Forrester Research…
Read More »
For Deo Braga, coming to America meant a fast track to opportunity. As a teenager in the Azores, Braga yearned for more. While attending college and working with his father, Manuel Furtado Braga, he ran a local bar and grocery store the family owned. His uncle, Barry Furtado, was already living in America and running…
Read More »
Many franchisors utilize so-called “no-poach” clauses in their franchise agreements, and such clauses may be structured in a way that limits a franchisee’s ability to hire employees of other, same-brand franchisees and/or employees of the franchisor. Recently, a group of state attorneys general and prominent legislators began pressing franchisors to cease use of so-called “no-poach”…
Read More »We would also remind business interests in Massachusetts, that the new Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act goes into effect on October 1st. The new law, which was signed into law earlier this summer, restricts the use of non-compete clauses in employment agreements by banning their use outright for employees considered nonexempt under the FLSA, including hourly…
Read More »It was a major upset and a total shock to the political establishment when back in June, New York bartender Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez handily beat 20-year Congressional incumbent Joseph Crowley for the democratic nomination for New York’s 14th Congressional District. Crowley was Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, essentially the 3rd most powerful democrat in the US…
Read More »