News
Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane Attorneys Present their Annual Legal Update for Cape Cod Human Resources Association
Nan O’Neill, Sarah Spatafore and Kier Wachterhauser, attorneys at law from Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane recently presented their Annual Legal Update for the Cape Cod Human Resources Association. This year the topics focused on lessons from the year’s top cases & regulatory and statutory update, Employment Leave in Massachusetts: a refresher and practical guidance on the multitude of Federal and State Leave Laws, and drug testing in the wake of marijuana legalization.
Kier Wachterhauser and Sarah Spatafore presented a comprehensive overview of major legislative, regulatory and case law developments during the past year. Important cases coming out of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Judicial Court addressed Wage Act damages, overtime exemptions, discrimination laws, and arbitration agreements. The statutory and regulatory update included an overview of the multitude of recent statutory and regulatory changes, such as increasing minimum wages, MA paid family medical leave, and wage and hour updates from the Department of Labor.
Nan O’Neill gave practical guidance on some of the biggest issues facing employers today, the leave law issue including the implementation of the new MA PFML and the intersection of the often overlapping leave laws including FMLA, ADA, Worker’s compensation, MA Earned Sick Time, domestic leave, and small necessities leave. The session offered an overview of the major leave laws and practical guidance on implementation and compliance as employers continue to grapple with the intricacies of the PFML.
Kier Wachterhauser focused on drug testing in the wake of the legalization of recreational marijuana in MA, including the conflict between state and federal law, pre-employment testing issues, as well as implementation and constraints regarding random drug testing and reasonable suspicion drug testing.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ISSUES REVISED TITLE IX REGULATIONS
On April 19, 2024, the United States Department of Education (“DOE”) issued final regulations for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”). Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance. The new regulations go into effect on August 1, 2024, so school districts are encouraged to review their policies and procedures and provide staff training on these new regulations as soon as possible. The final regulations continue to list specific elements that must be included in any policy, such as range of disciplinary actions, standards of evidence, and procedures. The DOE has provided template policies here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/resource-nondiscrimination-policies.pdf and Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane will be creating model policies and notice letters as well.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ISSUES REVISED TITLE IX REGULATIONS
On April 19, 2024, the United States Department of Education (“DOE”) issued final regulations for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”). Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance. The new regulations go into effect on August 1, 2024, so school districts are encouraged to review their policies and procedures and provide staff training on these new regulations as soon as possible. The final regulations continue to list specific elements that must be included in any policy, such as range of disciplinary actions, standards of evidence, and procedures. The DOE has provided template policies here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/resource-nondiscrimination-policies.pdf and Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane will be creating model policies and notice letters as well.
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