Can an employer incur liability for hiring someone who signed a Non-Compete/Non-Solicitation Agreement with
an ex-employer? A recent Superior Court case says “yes.”
In National Engineering Services Corp. v. Grogan (Mass. Superior Court, January 29, 2008), a recruiting and
staffi ng fi rm specializing in engineering and computer personnel, successfully sued one of its ex-account manager/
sales persons, and the new company he went to work for which competed directly with NECS.
Former Employee Challenges Massachusetts Law Prohibiting Gender Discrimination Claims Against Businesses with Fewer than Six Employees
By Doulgas M. Marrano, Esq.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) heard oral argument recently in a case challenging a former
employee’s right to sue her old company for gender discrimination despite a prohibition on such claims against
businesses with fewer than six employees. The Defendant company offered the Plaintiff a job as a technology consultant in February 2005. The Plaintiff
accepted the offer and began working for the Plaintiff on March 15, 2005. Less than a month later, the Plaintiff
informed the Defendant that she was pregnant with a due date of June 27, 2005. The Plaintiff alleges that the
president of the Defendant’s parent corporation was upset at the revelation of the Plaintiff ’s pregnancy and the day
following the Plaintiff ’s revelation, asked her to take an unpaid leave of absence immediately. The Plaintiff further
alleged the Defendant accused her of unethical behavior in not informing it of her pregnancy during her interviews
and that the Defendant could not place the Plaintiff onsite with the Defendant’s clients during her pregnancy or
maternity leave. The Defendant placed the Plaintiff on unpaid administrative leave eight days later. The Plaintiff
did not return to work.
Privately-Held Companies and Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
By Travis M. Drouin, CPA, CIA,
Partner, Moody, Famiglietti & Andronico
It has been almost six years since the introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Act”), and it has been
lauded, debated and lambasted in the news ever since. The Act created new industries and invigorated or shook up
others. It has been both friend and foe to some, but one point that generally receives little argument is that the costs
associated with the internal control provisions of Section 404 have amounted to more than anyone ever expected or
intended.
The High Cost of Slacking Off :
Ramifications for Breach of the Implied
Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing
Louis B. Mayer once quipped that an oral contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Every written contract,
however, imposes performance obligations recognized by law which may not necessarily appear in writing. These
obligations arise pursuant to the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing which informs every commercial
contract governed by Massachusetts law. The American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law of Contracts - long recognized
by Massachusetts Appellate Courts – provides that “[e]very contract imposes upon each party a duty of
good faith and fair dealing in its performance [.]” See Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 205 (Copyright 1981 - 2008 by The American Law Institute).
A New Declaration of Independence — Doing It Right: The Revised Independent Contractor Law
By Cheryl A. Waterhouse, Esq.
"It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma [,]” Winston Churchill once remarked about the former Soviet
Union. The phrase may just as easily apply to the new Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law - c. 149, s. 148B
which purports to offer a clearer definition of “Employee” vs. “Independent Contractor.”
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