Both federal and state laws govern the relationship between a public employer and its employees. Consequently, it is important for employers to have an awareness of such laws. This chapter is designed to give public employers a brief synopsis of whether the public employer-employee relationship is covered by each law and what the substance of that coverage is. Public employers are encouraged to review each specific chapter in its entirety for a comprehensive discussion of the federal and state laws affecting their relationship with their employees.
Certain public employees are excluded from the employment at-will doctrine because of statutorily-mandated systems, such as the merit system.
See Recruiting and hiring, for a more in-depth discussion of at-will employment.
Just as private-sector employees are required to complete I-9 forms attesting to their authorization to work in the United States, so are Massachusetts’s public employees. See Chapter 05: Immigration, for a more in-depth discussion of immigration issues.
The Public Employee Collective Bargaining Law (PECB) defines the collective bargaining rights and duties of public employers and public employees in Massachusetts. It has broad coverage, applying to virtually all public employees within the state except:
PECB provides that public employees may organize and bargain collectively with their employers through labor organizations of their own choosing.
To ensure that the rights of public employers, employee organizations and employees are protected and to prevent labor disputes from resulting in the disruption of services to the public, the act defines certain prohibited labor practices and provides DLR with the statutory authority to fashion appropriate remedial relief for violations of the PECB.
The PECB requires a public employer to bargain with its employees’ designated labor organization.
The DLR administers the PECB. The powers and duties of the DLR include, but are not limited to, the following:
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets forth standards for minimum wage and overtime pay.
Separate rules may apply for particular classes of public employees, such as employees engaged in fire protection activities or law enforcement activities.
Public employees are able to engage in voluntary sporadic or occasional work for their employer in a different capacity without those hours being combined for overtime purposes. An example of a voluntary sporadic assignment would be a school clerk collecting tickets at a high school football game. There are also very liberal rules covering outside employment by law enforcement and fire protection employees.
In general, federal, state and local government employers, with the agreement of their employees, can give compensatory (or comp) time off (at time and one-half) rather than pay cash overtime. In other words, if an employee worked 60 hours in a week, he or she could get 30 hours of comp time off instead of 20 hours of overtime pay.
An employee can accrue up to 480 hours of comp time (320 hours of actual overtime worked) if the work done by the employee for which comp time may be provided includes work in:
There is a 240-hour cap on comp time (160 hours of actual overtime worked) for all other types of work.
Compensatory time received by an employee in lieu of cash must be at the rate of not less than one and one-half hours of compensatory time for each hour of overtime work and must be under an agreement or understanding between the employer and employee prior to beginning the overtime. There is no specific time limit as to when a public employee may elect to use comp time earned.
However, the public employer must permit the employee to use such time within a reasonable period after the employee requests time off, unless such use will unduly disrupt the government’s operations (which generally depends on the government’s workload and specific circumstances of each case). When an employee’s employment is terminated, he or she must be paid for all remaining comp time at his or her current rate of pay.
See Wage and hours for a more in-depth discussion of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Because public employers are state actors, the U.S. and Massachusetts Constitutions govern them. While the Bill of Rights has been held to create “zones of privacy” into which the government may not intrude, this amorphous privacy right has not been generally recognized in the workplace.
However, the more specific Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures has been recognized in the public employment context. Public employees may have limited Fourth Amendment protections if they had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the place searched (e.g., a locked file cabinet). On the other hand, if there is no reasonable expectation of privacy (e.g., in a government-provided cell phone), a government search does not violate the Fourth Amendment.
Drug-testing is a “search” within the scope of the Fourth Amendment. Therefore, if the test is “unreasonable,” the Fourth Amendment is be violated. Testing is considered reasonable (and therefore, constitutional) when the employee works in a safety-sensitive position. For example, all Massachusetts public-sector employees working in any safety sensitive position are subject to the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act. The law requires every covered employer to conduct pre-employment, reasonable suspicion, random, post-accident, follow-up and return-to-duty alcohol and controlled substances testing of each applicant for employment or employee who is covered by the law.
Examples of safety sensitive positions include employees required to obtain/hold a Commercial Drivers’ License (CDL) and public transit workers.
See Privacy rights for a more in-depth discussion of employee’s privacy rights.
Both the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and Massachusetts's statutes govern the employment rights of private and public employees called to military service. USERRA provides for three main types of protection:
See Military leave for a more in-depth discussion of USERRA.
Many federal and Massachusetts laws protect employees from being discriminated against or terminated on the basis of protected status, such as race, gender, age, etc. These laws also prohibit retaliation against employees for exercising their right to seek protection from discrimination. The following laws apply to public employees.
Title VII applies to both public and private employers with 15 or more employees. Title VII prohibits employers from terminating or taking any other discriminatory employment action against employees because of the employees’:
See Discrimination, for a more in-depth discussion of Title VII.
The Massachusetts Fair Employment Practices Act , which applies to all Massachusetts employers with at least four employees, also prohibits employers from terminating or taking any other discriminatory employment action against employees because of the employees’:
As an amendment to Title VII, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires that pregnant women must be treated the same as men or non-pregnant women whose inability to work is due to a non-pregnancy-related illness or disability.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) applies to public and private employers with at least 20 employees. The ADEA prohibits employers from discharging or discriminating against employees who are 40 or older because of their age. The Massachusetts Fair Employment Practices Act also prohibits age discrimination against employees who are 18 or older.
See Discrimination for a more in-depth discussion of the ADEA.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to public and private employers who have at least 15 employees. The act prohibits employers from discharging or discriminating against qualified individuals with a disability due to the employee’s disabled status.
See Disabilities and reasonable accommodations for a more in-depth discussion of the ADA.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which applies to employers with 50 or more employees and all public employers and educational agencies (regardless of whether they meet the private employer threshold requirements) provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per 12-month period for employees upon any of the following:
In addition, FMLA provides up to 26 weeks of leave if the employee needs to care for a family member who was injured or became ill while on active military duty. FMLA may also be available if a family member is called to active duty. Employers may not lawfully terminate, discriminate or retaliate against employees who exercise their rights under the FMLA.
Plant closings and mass layoffs
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) covers all quasi-public entities separately organized from regular government that employ either:
Safety and health laws
State and local government employers are included in the limited exceptions for employers from OSH Act coverage.
See Safety and health, for a more in-depth discussion of OSHA.