Federal Judge Dismisses Corporate Attack on Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law

A federal judge has, at the urging of Attorney General Maura Healey, has dismissed a lawsuit against the new Earned Sick Time Law that was filed by construction employers in Massachusetts.

A strong majority of Massachusetts voters last Fall enacted a law entitling most workers to up to 40 hours of paid sick leave in a year. A consortium of construction businesses sued to strip Attorney General Healey of the power to enforce the law against employers that have collective bargaining agreements with unions representing their employees. If successful, the lawsuit would have deprived benefits of the Law from private sector employees represented by a union.

Here, the businesses argued that federal labor law prohibits enforcement of Earned Sick Time Law as to union-represented employees because enforcement would require courts to interpret a collective bargaining agreement. Federal labor law discourages courts from interpreting collective bargaining agreements.

But Judge Zobel determined that this federal preemption doctrine did not apply. Judge Zobel ruled that enforcement of Earned Sick Time Law as to employees working under a union contract does not necessarily require a court to interpret the contract, but merely consult the contract to determine damages owed.

Union represented employees have only a moment to celebrate. The judge's decision allows the companies to file a new action against the law using a different theory,