Employer violated both the Wage Act and the Prevailing Wage law – corporate officers liable? Recent case Donis vs. American Waste Services, LLC SJC (2020) decided which of two applicable laws govern when an employer shorts workers’ wages. FACTS The employer of trash collectors was required to pay predetermined ‘prevailing’ wage rates and like all employers, they were obliged to pay workers according to the rules of the Wage Act.… Read More
Employers Become OSHA Investigators Under Updated Virus Rules ASK WHEN YOU LEARN OSHA standards for COVID 19, updated on May 19, 2020, uses reporting requirements to turn employers into investigators of their own jobsites. The employer must use reasonable efforts to reach conclusions on the questions – Has the pandemic visited your worksite? Was the employee’s COVID work-related? OSHA (the Federal Department of… Read More
Insurance for construction work related virus personal injury and health harms to others – covered, excluded or limited? VIRUS RELATED WORK INJURIES An injured person may claim that a company’s failure to take to reasonable precautions to prevent the spread of the Corona virus at its place of business makes out an accidental event that led to bodily injury. WORKERS COMP – AUTOMATIC BUT LIMITED Hurt at work? Every employer must provide workers… Read More
Wages lost as a result of retaliation get tripled Retaliatory firing deprived worker of commissions that ripened later but legal penalties tripled the entire sum. Massachusetts SJC Parker v EnterNOC, Inc. (2020) FACTS Parker made a base salary and commissions working for EnterNOC marketing energy efficiency services. Parker made a $20M sale to occur over 5 years but only the first year was guaranteed,… Read More