News & Alerts

Michael J. Beagan worked as a delivery driver for a transportation company for sev-eral years. The events that led to his termination arose after the company implemented a new accident policy.

In June 2014, Christine Callaghan applied for a summer internship at Darlington Fabrics Corporation. During the hiring process, Callaghan signed a “Fitness for Duty Statement,” which acknowledged that she would need to complete a pre-employment drug test.

The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all Rhode Island employers) recently affirmed summary judgment (dismissal without a trial) in favor of an employer on a claim that it failed to accommodate an employee’s disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

We successfully defended a prominent local retail chain which was accused of underreporting and underpaying sales tax to the State of Rhode Island in violation of Rhode Island’s False Claims Act.

For many years, supervisors and managers wondered if they could be personally liable when an employee sued his employer for discrimination. After much waiting, we have the answer! The Rhode Island Supreme Court recently endorsed the reasoning of other states, including California, and issued an emphatic “No.”

So breathe a sigh of relief, and carry on with your work.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit (whose rulings apply to all Rhode Island employers) recently affirmed summary judgment (dismissal without a trial) in favor of Amtrak on an employee’s claim of race discrimination.

The Rhode Island federal court recently held that a buyer of an employer’s assets can be liable for the seller’s violations of federal and state wage laws, even if the buyer is a separate entity with distinct management and ownership from that of the seller. If the buyer continues the seller’s business operations, it should conduct careful due diligence and confirm that the seller will have sufficient assets after the sale to satisfy any lingering debts.

Perhaps you have heard the maxim “ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

We represented an individual who was falsely charged with a first-degree sexual assault.

On January 20, 2017, the First Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a decision from the National Labor Relations Board, which had concluded that our client violated the law by maintaining a policy that gave hiring preference to its non-union employees for non-union positions that was similar to the preference that the client’s union employees received under their collective bargaining agreement for positions within their bargaining unit.

Mr. Flanders wins case of ‘broad impact’ clarifying limits on expert discovery.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit (whose rulings apply to all Rhode Island employers) recently affirmed an attorneys’ fee award in favor of an employer, holding that the employee’s case became frivolous during the discovery (pretrial fact-finding) phase.