Employment Laws in Massachusetts
Definition of employee. Employee does not include any individual employed by his or her parents, spouse or child, or in the domestic service of any person.
Definition of employer. Employer does not include employers with fewer than six employees, social clubs, or nonprofit organizations but does include the commonwealth and all its political subdivisions.
Prohibited employment discrimination. It is unlawful for an employer to base its hiring or employment decisions on the individual's race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation (except when the sexual orientation involves minor children as the sex object), genetic information, ancestry, age, disability, or failure to furnish an arrest record that is five or more years old.
It is unlawful for an employer to deny initial employment, reemployment, retention in employment, promotion or any benefit of employment to a person who is a member of, applies to perform, or has an obligation to perform, service in a uniformed military service of the United States, including the National Guard, on the basis of that membership, application or obligation.
Retaliatory action against medical workers who object to participating in the collection and storage of umbilical cord blood and placental tissue on the basis of sincerely held religious practices or beliefs regarding blood transfer is prohibited. In addition, an employee can not be required to conduct scientific research, experimentation or study that involves the creation or use of preimplantation embryos in relation to human embryonic stem cell research to the extent that such research conflicts with sincerely held religious practices or beliefs of the employee.
Recordkeeping requirements. Every person must keep true and accurate records of the ages of all persons it employs, as far as practicable to do so, and must upon demand furnish to the Commissioner of Labor and Industries or the commissioner's authorized representative a true copy of any such record, verified upon oath. The records must be open to investigation by the commissioner or the commissioner's authorized representative at any reasonable time.
Employers of 25 or more workers on each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year are required to make and keep records relating to the race, color and national origin of their employees, which are necessary for showing compliance with the Fair Employment Practices Law.
Posting requirements. Every employer that is covered by the Fair Employment Practices Law must post in a conspicuous place on its premises a notice prepared by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, setting forth excepts of the law. In addition, employers with six or more employees must adopt a sexual harassment policy and annually provide an individual written copy of it to all employees.
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