The first phase of Massachusetts’ new paid family and medical leave law (“PFML”) requires covered employers to provide certain notices to employees and 1099-MISC contractors as of July 1. Specifically, a form of notice is required to be posted at employer locations and personal notice is required to be provided to all covered workers. As...
Last week, a bipartisan group in Congress took a big step toward eliminating the current conflict between federal and state marijuana laws by re-introducing a bill that would allow each state to determine its own marijuana position. The bill is called the “Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act,” or STATES ACT for short....
By Alicia J. Samolis and Michael A. Gamboli Certain Obligations Take Effect on July 1 – What Employers Need to Know Now THE BASICS. Massachusetts has enacted yet another new leave law. Paid Family and Medical Leave (“PFML”) provides employees with job protected leaves of absence similar to those provided by the federal FMLA, but...
By Colin Coleman, John Ottaviani, and Brian Reilly Privacy protection continues to be a theme at the Rhode Island General Assembly. As we reported in our April 1, 2019 Client Alert, which can be read here, the “Consumer Privacy Protection Act” was introduced on March 29, 2019 proposing more stringent requirements on businesses that collect...
A number of changes to Canada’s trademark laws will come into effect on June 17, 2019. Some of the more important changes are summarized below. These changes provide opportunities for registration that may not have been available to brand owners previously, as well as strategies for cost savings. Some of the more important changes include:...
By Colin Coleman, John Ottaviani, and Brian Reilly On March 29, 2019, a bill was submitted to the Rhode Island General Assembly entitled “Consumer Privacy Protection Act – 2019 H 5930” (the Proposed Act). If enacted, the Proposed Act would place more stringent requirements on the collection and retention of consumers’ personal information by a “business.”...
Again? In a case of what must feel like déjà vu for employers, on March 7, 2019, after conducting “listening sessions” across the country and receiving tens of thousands of comments from the public, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a much-anticipated proposed rule (“Proposed Rule”) that, according to its estimates, would result...
By Colin Coleman, John Ottaviani, and Brian Reilly Does your business have employees or customers in Massachusetts or Rhode Island? If so, you need to have a written information security program (“WISP”). If your business (wherever located) collects, stores or uses personal information about a Massachusetts resident, you are legally required to: (a) develop, implement and...
Recently, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a proposed rule to require all applicants who have their domicile or principal place of business outside the United States to hire an attorney who is licensed to practice law to represent them in trademark matters before the USPTO. The new rule would apply to applicants filing...
By Colin Coleman, John Ottaviani, and Brian Reilly Does your business provide company or customer data to any of its vendors? If so, do you know what contractual provisions are in place to protect your business in the event of a data breach by your vendor? Vendors typically try to limit their liability under their contracts...
