The latest leg in a multi-front worker classification fight kicked off in Suffolk Superior Court on Monday, with the start of Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s lawsuit against ride-share giants Uber and Lyft.
Courts
Posted inOpinion
It’s past time to move Bridgewater State Hospital out of the Department of Correction
THE REPORT RELEASED in March condemning Bridgewater State Hospital —Massachusetts’s state psychiatric facility — felt more like a broken record than a revelation. The 87-page document outlined issues that have plagued the facility for years, including allegedly illegal practices used to restrain and seclude prisoners and potentially lethal health risks, including exposure to mold, asbestos, […]
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: The Dan Rea primary | Satanists bedeviling Boston City Hall
Elizabeth Warren’s two Republican challengers go on the radio, while federal judges suggest Satanists bedeviling Boston City Hall might have a point.
Posted inBallot Questions
SJC appears open to letting tipped-worker question go to ballot
MULLING A CHALLENGE to a tipped-wage initiative proposed for the November ballot, justices of the Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday seemed skeptical of arguments that they should keep the measure away from voters. The potential ballot initiative, which would require businesses to gradually raise the pay of tipped workers until it reaches $15 an hour […]
Posted inCourts
SJC ponders environmental justice, East Boston substation
A clarification has been added to this story. A PROPOSED ELECTRICITY substation in East Boston has become a test case for how much energy infrastructure an environmental justice community should be forced to accept. The Eagle Hill community in East Boston certainly meets the definition of an environmental justice community. Its median household income is […]
Posted inCourts
Is collecting your data the modern wiretap?
Could using AdTech software to monitor a public website visitor’s online actions amount to an illegal wiretap in Massachusetts?
Posted inCourts
Arguments in 7-Eleven franchise case ‘almost incomprehensible’
A case that has ping-ponged between state and federal courts considering whether 7-Eleven franchisees are independent contractors or employees under Massachusetts law left the SJC openly befuddled.
Posted inCourts
SJC gives life to complaints of Tufts tenured faculty
The Supreme Judicial Court partially overturned a lower court decision that Tufts University did not violate promises of academic freedom and economic security made to tenured professors, concluding that a group of professors whose salary and full-time status were reduced can sue the university.
Posted inCourts
Full SJC to hear Milton rezoning case
Justice Serge Georges Jr. said the case against Milton, which centers around how to enforce the MBTA Communities Act, “raises novel questions of law which are of public importance and which are time sensitive and likely to recur.”
Posted inCourts
On zoning law, Campbell seeks legal shot across the bow
Campbell wants to skip a trial in Superior Court and go straight to the SJC in May in an effort to establish clearly that Milton and other communities in the state are subject to the law and her office has the authority to enforce compliance.