The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has revised the definition of “spouse” under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to include marriages legally entered into by same-sex couples.  This revision expands the FMLA’s reach and ensures that same-sex couples are provided with the same benefits, rights and privileges as opposite-sex couples, such as taking...

In just a few months, perhaps as early as mid-May, the new .BANK generic Top Level Domain will become available to banks around the world.  The new domain promises to be more secure than the traditional .COM, with enhanced security requirements designed to minimize or eliminate the risk of “spoofing” and fraudulent websites. But not...

On his last day in office, Governor Patrick signed Senate Bill 865, the so-called Parental Leave Act (“Parental Leave”), which amends the Massachusetts Maternity Leave Act (“MMLA”) to provide unpaid leave to all eligible employees, not just women. Parental Leave applies to employers with six or more employees and goes into effect on April 15, 2015. While...

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the “SJC”) recently decided that two mortgage foreclosure ordinances adopted by the City of Springfield were preempted by existing state law.  In Easthampton Savings Bank v. City of Springfield, 470 Mass. 284 (Dec. 19, 2014)[1], the SJC struck down both ordinances, which were adopted in the midst of the wave of foreclosures...

Jennifer Luzzi, 2014 – 2015 Winter Associate, contributed to this article. On December 15, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a final rule regarding representation case procedures to become effective on April 14, 2015.  In doing so, the NLRB sought to update its rules to better reflect modern technology, uniformity across regions, and...