Attorneys in the News

Last year, Massachusetts joined a growing list of states with pay-transparency laws when Gov. Maura Healey signed “An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency” into law. The law, which takes effect in various stages this year, will require many Massachusetts employers to disclose salary and pay ranges in all job postings and advertisements. The law also requires larger businesses to file certain wage data and information with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Skoler Abbott attorney Marylou Fabbo has been selected as one of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s Go-To Employment Lawyers for 2025. This program recognizes top lawyers across the Commonwealth who are leaders in employment law and have a history of successful representation.

Lilly Ledbetter, an unintentional icon in the fight for equal pay, passed away on October 12, 2024, at the age of 86. Ledbetter filed a lawsuit in 1999 that sparked an equal pay movement throughout the United States. More than 25 years later, pay disparities still exist in every state. Over the years, Massachusetts has implemented a number of legislative measures to achieve pay parity. Have they been effective?

During the first Trump administration, employers saw increased activity by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the workplace, and it looks like employers will see similar action over the next four years. The president resumed and intensified deportation efforts in his return to office. That announcement has sparked a wide range of reactions from staunch support to vehement opposition. The stated plan focuses on increasing the number of deportations, particularly targeting undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds.

Private-sector employers that increasingly have been approving remote work for their employees have wondered whether they remain “Covered Employers” under the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and whether their out-of-state employees are still eligible for FMLA leave. After all, it’s not unusual to have employees spread across the country with only a few in each state. And, what about coverage under state leave laws like the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (MA PFML)?

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts announced the addition of three community members to its board of directors including Skoler Abbott attorney Maureen James.

The website for Skoler, Abbott & Presser lists 23 distinct practice areas in the realm of employment and the workforce — everything from discrimination and harassment to handbooks and personnel policies; from employment litigation to labor relations; from immigration to workplace safety. “It may look like it’s a very broad practice area, but it’s really not,” said John Gannon, one of the firm’s five partners. “I think it’s actually somewhat narrow, in that all we do is represent employers and businesses, and we represent them when they have issues related to their employees.” Those issues fall into two buckets, he explained. “There’s the labor side of things, if an employer has a union or is governed by a collective bargaining agreement; we have some folks in our office who specialize in that area. And for those employers that are non-union or not covered by a collective bargaining agreement, that’s general employment law, which is the other side of the house.”

Massachusetts joined a growing list of states with pay transparency laws when Governor Maura Healy signed “An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency” into law. The law, which will take effect in stages in 2025, requires many Massachusetts employers to disclose salary/pay ranges in all job postings and to file certain wage data/information with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The law also protects a worker’s right to request salary/pay range information. The law is aimed at eliminating gender, racial, and other wage disparities, according to the Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to automatic systems that use data to make decisions, predictions, or recommendations. AI provides great opportunities to improve many aspects of our lives—how we work, learn, and live. Nevertheless, there are both pros and cons to using AI in the workplace. Advantages include increased efficiency and productivity, innovation, and removing remedial and/or tedious tasks from employees’ job descriptions. But as AI becomes more advanced and capable of taking on tasks previously performed by humans, job displacement has become a real concern. Employees will need to adapt to new roles and may be resistant to doing so, and new ethical concerns will undoubtedly arise.

Over the past few years, there have been much higher rates of immigration than had previously been projected. In 2019, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)—which is tasked with providing independent, nonpartisan analysis of economic and budgetary issues to support the Congressional budget process—estimated that net immigration in 2023 would total one million people. Now that 2023 has passed, the CBO has estimated that net immigration in 2023 was actually closer to 3.3 million. That net increase in immigrants can significantly affect the labor market by altering the supply of available workers. With the increase, it may be a good time for your business to learn more about recent developments in immigration law.