From Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Kris Olson reports that a contractor cannot sue the client of the party with which the contractor had an agreement. Kim writes: A contractor’s breach of contract claim against the company that created preliminary designs for a project should be dismissed because the contractor was not an intended beneficiary of the…
From Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Eric T. Berkman discusses a recent Massachusetts case in which a sales representative was determined to be an employee under Massachusetts’ ABC test. Eric writes: A Massachusetts resident who provided outside sales services to a Taiwanese manufacturer was misclassified as an independent contractor and entitled to Wage Act protections, a U.S.…
From Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Pat Murphy A Massachusetts Lyft driver’s class action alleging that the ride-sharing company violated the Wage Act by classifying him as an independent contractor is subject to a mandatory arbitration clause in the company’s “clickwrap” terms of service agreement, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a closely…
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reports on a misclassification claim that was limited by the statute of limitations because the worker shown have known that he was misclassified as an independent contractor. In this case, the court said: Plaintiff argues, however, that the statute of limitations as to these claims was tolled until he became a Town…
From the Boston Globe, Jackson Cote reports that two owners of a cleaning company have been charged with misclassifying workers. Jackson writes: Two owners of a Malden-based cleaning company have been charged with misclassifying their workers, concealing more than $2.8 million in payroll, Attorney General Maura Healey announced Monday. Marcello Pompa, 40, of Saugus,…
From Lexology, David J. Santeusanio and Andrew Silvia provide an excellent overview of the Massachusetts statute governing noncompete agreements. The new law covers noncompete agreements between entieis and their employees AND independent contractors. David and Andrew write: The Act applies to noncompetition agreements signed by employees and independent contractors who work or reside in Massachusetts. The…
From Lexology, Melissa McDonagh and Kevin Burke report on the recently passed (but not yet signed into law) Massachusetts bill that restricts non-compete agreements and that the restrictions apply to agreements with independent contractors also. Melissa and Kevin write: New Minimum Requirements for Noncompetition Agreements in Massachusetts As noted above, the Act specifically curtails…
From MassLive, Shira Schoenberg reports that Massachusetts Supreme Court Justices encouraged the legislature to clarify the state’s independent contractor laws. Shira writes: several of the justices urged the Legislature to update the state’s independent contractor law to alleviate confusion. Chief Justice Ralph Gants, joined by two other justices in a concurring opinion, said the state laws…
From Framingham Source, Susan Petroni reports tha Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy joined in a brief to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that supports an interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) that would say that intentional misclassification of workers as independent contractors to preven them from organizing is a violation of hte NLRA. …
This is a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case from 2013 but it came up in a conversation I was having this week. This report of the case comes from Foley Hoag and Christopher Feudo and Michael Rosen discuss the case in which individuals working in New York for a Massachusetts company signed an agreement saying that Massachusetts law…