An act to update and streamline the  State Employment Agencies is in Senate Ways and Means

Action Required: Please call Senator Panagioutakos, 617-722-1630 and urge that the bill be released for debate in the Senate.

Background: The Commonwealth’s Employment Agency (EA) Law (G.L. c. 140, §§ 46A-R) currently leaves large gaps in coverage and protection, and has different requirements for similar businesses.  Depending on whether an agency works to place employees in permanent or temporary positions, or whether agency fees or charges are paid by the job applicant or the employer client, licensing, record keeping, and other requirements vary greatly.  At the same time, Massachusetts workers employed by certain temp agencies are being denied their basic rights.  The new EA Law will streamline provisions that burdened the industry, place all employment and staffing agencies on a level playing field, simplify requirements imposed by the Division of Occupational Safety (DOS), and incorporate the protections of the Temporary Worker Right to Know bill which carried the same bill numbers, S. 680.

For Workers: The bill provides much-needed protection for workers in temporary jobs.  Since many temporary jobs are low-wage and characterized by high turnover, these workers constitute some of the most vulnerable members of the workforce. Frequently, workers are sent off not knowing where they are going, what they are doing, who they are working for, what they will be getting paid, or anything much more than a nickname for a contact person.  Only after they begin working, do they discover charges for transportation, meals, or necessary safety equipment.

Incorporating the Temporary Worker Right to Know legislation, the new law will require agencies to provide written notice of key details of job assignments- the name of the agency, the work site employer, the type of work to be done, disclosure of who the employer is, wages, and the details and costs of transportation, equipment, and meals provided by the worksite employer. It also requires disclosure of how to reach DOS, the right to workers’ compensation, a copy of the contract to be given to the applicant, as well as a receipt for any charges paid by the applicant.

For Businesses: Currently, employment agencies that charge fees to applicants must go through a full licensing process.  Other agencies, doing essentially the same business, are exempt from the licensing requirement and   must simply register to operate.  Under the new EA Law, all employment and staffing agencies will be subject to the same process, a less burdensome registration process.  Employment agencies will no longer go through a hearing process before starting their business, nor will they be required to submit their forms and/or contracts to DOS for prior approval.  The new EA law will also make it easier for businesses to transfer their registrations, by eliminating the need for pre-approval of transfer and allowing a simple registration.  The law will provide clearer definitions of key terms, enabling businesses to better understand their rights and responsibilities.  Additionally, the new EA law will simplify record keeping requirements.

For the Commonwealth: Required annual registration fees from all employment agencies will remain in place.  Additionally, a streamlined and simplified registration and enforcement process will ease the burden on DOS by eliminating the cost of unnecessary hearings and inspections allowing DOS to focus on those agencies that attempt to circumvent the law.

For further information, please contact: Tim Sullivan, Mass. AFL-CIO, 781/324-8250; Isabel Lopez, MassCOSH, 617/825-7233; Yessenia Alfaro, Chelsea Collaborative, 617/259-6659; or Sherley Cruz or Monica Halas, Greater Boston Legal Services, 617/603-1533 or 617/603-1666..

For 100 years, Massachusetts has had a special relationship with the Savings Bank Life Insurance company so that basic life insurance policies were available to people of all income levels.   That special relationship is no longer regulated under this new statute which has been signed by the Lieutenant Governor  (acting on behalf of the Governor while the Governor was out of state).

The final bill not only wipes out the “gender neutrality” requirements that have been characteristic for over twenty years, but wipes out the requirement that the company fulfill  “special responsibilities,” such as the regulations that guarantee that the company provide low amount life insurance policies.  (The Governor’s Office says the company has promised to continue offering these same policies; JALSA and other organizations will monitor.)
Notwithstanding the special responsibilities,  this company has enjoyed great profits for the sale of this insurance in Massachusetts.

We thank the many individuals and organizations that worked to the last moment urging the Governor’s staff to recommend a veto.  Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful.   As on many other occasions, equity for women was sacrificed for other goals.

Read  our letter to the Governor.

Important weeks in the legislative session.  Committees were to release bills.  State House News tells us that 900 bills were given “extensions” which means the committees have not been willing to support, reject, or send them to “study” (effectively killing them for the year).

Paid Sick Leave is in the House Ways and Means Committee. Contact all members of that committee and the House Leadership, Speaker Robert DeLeo  ( 617-722-2500) and House Ways and Means Chairman, Charles Murphy of Burlington of Winthrop (617-722-2990);  Barbara L’Italian of Andover of Boston – Vice Chair (617-722-2380);  Stephen Kulik of Worthington of Franklin – Assistant Vice-Chair   (617-722-2380).

Urge 15 of your friends to call, as well.   Telephone numbers for all on State House Website

Scaccia of Boston            Fox of Boston                 Koczera of New Bedford
Canavan of Brockton    Fagan of Taunton          Quinn of Dartmouth
Garry of Dracut              Creedon of Brockton    Rodrigues of Westport
Balser of Newton           Timilty of Milton            Kane of Holyoke

Donelan of Orange        Rush of Boston       Driscoll of Braintree  

Guyer of Dalton             Sciortino of Medford     Sannicandro of Ashland

Welch of West Springfield     Speranzo of Pittsfield   Rice of Gardner

Conroy of Wayland       deMacedo of Plymouth   Hargraves of Groton

Perry of Sandwich         Polito of Shrewsbury         Smola of Palmer

Webster of Pembroke

For a script for telephone calls, see our Paid Sick Leave page.

Savings Bank Life Insurance

For 20 years, the SBLI company has sold insurance in the Commonwealth with a provision in the statutes prohibiting discriminatory provisions in rate setting by gender.  Now, the company wants to be able to establish different rates for men and women.  Please contact your senator.  The company has been profitable for many years without discriminating.  Whatever small savings women might achieve by discriminatory rate setting, they will lose more in the long run in the insurance field.  Just last year, Massachusetts was finally able to end discrimination in annuities.  Now SBLI wants to turn the clock back.

Contact your senator immediately.  Urge they not take this discriminatory action.

Transgender Civil Rights Bill 1728

Once again the Massachusetts legislature is dragging its heels on civil rights legislation.   A bill to add transgender identity to the state’s civil rights statutes is still pending, notwithstanding that a majority of the legislators have indicated their support.

Write the leadership.  Urge that this bill be released from the Judiciary Committee for floor debate and a vote.

The “paid sick days” bill has now been sent to House Ways and Means. Let your legislator know this is a very important piece of legislation.   For added information on this issue look on this website at JALSA Pages: JALSA Issues: “Paid Sick Days for all Workers”.

JALSA has signed onto a letter to the Congress endorsing a bill that would strike the one-year filing deadline for asylum applications. Currently the Immigration and Nationality Act requires asylum requests to be filed within one year. Often refugees need more time to make sure other family members are away from danger.

Harvard Medical School Professor Emeritus Rashi Fein spoke on Friday, April 16 discussing Health Care Reform and what next steps do we take to improve health care.

250-300 people crowed the Great Hall of the State House to hear Lilly Ledbetter and Vickie Reggie Kennedy speak on Paid Sick Leave.   Governor Deval Patrick spoke to the crowd providing his first public support for the legislation.  The program was moderated by State AFL-CIO President Bob Haynes.  Speakers included employers who provided strong  support for paid sick leave.

Rabbi Barbara Penzner visited CLSA on Friday, April 9 to discuss the firing of the Hyatt housekeepers.  CLSA will consider what options are available for increasing public visibility and pressure on the Hyatt to reconsider the treatment of these workers.

A panel of three judges, including Judge Michael Boudin (presiding), Justice David Souter (formerly of the Supreme Court) and Judge Jeffrey Howard engaged with Harvey Silverglate, representing the original plaintiffs who were appealing the district court finding, and Bill Porter of the Attorney General’s office with David Guberman, representing the Commonwealth.  JALSA joined in an amicus brief with Armenian groups and the Irish Immigration Center arguing that the Department of Education had the right to determine what materials should be included in a Curriculum Guide established to carry out the legislative intent to teach about genocide in the schools.

When the initial legislation had been considered, our organizational leadership had urged the legislature to include a broad number of examples of genocide in the proposed curriculum so that students might study history of particular interest to their community.  As a result, the legislation had indicated that the study might include materials about the Armenian Genocide, the European Holocaust, the Cambodian Killing Fields, the Middle Passage of the African Slave Trade, and the Irish Potato Famine.  Turkish representatives wanted materials in the curriculum that argued that the Armenian experience during WWI was not an example of genocide but the result of the conflict.  The DOE had decided that denial materials should not be part of the Curriculum Guide.  The core question raised by the plaintiffs was whether the removal of the denial materials from the Curriculum Guide, possibly in response to political pressure, was a denial of constitutional rights.

An audio recording of the court proceedings will be available at http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/

Click “Court Calendar,” and follow the links for the RSS feed of oral arguments.

Case name:  Griswold v. Driscoll.    Case should be decided by June.