All fired up

By New England In-House Staff
POSTED: March 30, 2012
Tags: March 31 2012 issue

Reebok CEO Paul Fireman and lawyers from Boston’s Goulston & Storrs used to enter the courtroom side by side. Those days appear to be over.

Piper and prejudice

By New England In-House Staff
POSTED: March 30, 2012
Tags: March 31 2012 issue

An ex-DLA Piper secretary has abruptly pulled the plug on a sexual harassment complaint she lodged against the Boston law firm and a former supervisor.

Company, CEO sanctioned for destroying evidence

But judge stops short of entering default judgment

By David E. Frank
POSTED: March 21, 2012
Tags: March 31 2012 issue

A Superior Court judge in Boston’s Business Litigation Session has ruled that a company that intentionally destroyed tens of thousands of pages of evidence must pay the plaintiffs’ counsel fees.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers, EEOC see rise in pregnancy bias claims

By Sylvia Hsieh
POSTED: March 21, 2012
Tags: March 31 2012 issue

The slow economy and competitive labor market may be contributing to an upswing in discrimination claims by pregnant women in the workplace, employment attorneys say.

Settlement doesn’t bar deceit, fiduciary claims

By Eric T. Berkman
POSTED: March 13, 2012
Tags: March 31 2012 issue

A couple who claimed an investment firm fraudulently induced them into settling litigation over an unsuccessful investment deal could subsequently sue the company for deceit and breach of fiduciary duty, even though they were represented by counsel at the time of the settlement, the Massachusetts Appeals Court has found.

Split panel finds retaliation OK in mutual fund industry

By Thomas E. Egan
POSTED: February 24, 2012
Tags: Feb. 29 2012 issue

A provision in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act protecting whistleblowers from retaliation does not extend to employees of private companies that act under contract as advisers to, and managers of, mutual funds, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has decided in a split decision.

City’s workforce retention ordinance upheld by court

Hospitality workers protected under rule

By Thomas E. Egan
POSTED: February 24, 2012
Tags: Feb. 29 2012 issue

The Rhode Island city of Providence could require hotels to retain their employees for three months in the event of a change in ownership, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has found.

‘Misclassified’ worker can file third-party lawsuit

By Eric T. Berkman
POSTED: February 24, 2012
Tags: Feb. 29 2012 issue

A truck driver who brought a purported class action alleging that companies he worked for had violated state and federal wage laws by misclassifying drivers as independent contractors could also sue a management-services firm for providing the companies with independent contractor forms, a U.S. District Court judge in Boston has ruled.

NLRB protects class actions, sends employers scrambling

By Kimberly Atkins
POSTED: February 24, 2012
Tags: Feb. 29 2012 issue

Just when attorneys thought the issue of class action waivers in mandatory arbitration clauses had been settled by the U.S. Supreme Court once and for all, a National Labor Relations Board ruling has called into question the ability of employers to use arbitration clauses in employment contracts to prohibit class and collective actions.