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CRAB Affirms Order for New Medical Panel in Poirier v. NBRB
The Massachusetts Contributory Retirement Appeal Board (CRAB) affirmed a Division of Administrative Law Appeals (DALA) decision requiring...
Daniel O'Connor
Oct 101 min read
DALA Confirms Disability Rights for First Responders with Preexisting Conditions
In Foster v. Boston Retirement Board (CR-24-0032, July 11, 2025), the Massachusetts Division of Administrative Law Appeals reversed a...
Daniel O'Connor
Sep 122 min read
Strict Timelines Bar Police Chief’s PTSD Disability Claim
In Segalla v. Reading Retirement Board (CR-21-0368, Aug. 8, 2025), the Division of Administrative Law Appeals upheld the denial of a...
Daniel O'Connor
Sep 121 min read
Defining “In the Performance of Duties” in Accidental Disability Cases
In Michel v. Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System (CR-24-0216), the Division of Administrative Law Appeals reversed the MTRS’s...
Daniel O'Connor
Sep 122 min read
Stipend for Non-Specific Club is Regular Compensation
In Florio v. Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System (CR-18-509), the Contributory Retirement Appeal Board (CRAB) affirmed a Division...
Daniel O'Connor
Aug 71 min read
Retirement Board must correct mistakes and grant full service
In the matter of Debra Sheehan v. Beverly Retirement Board and Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System (Docket No. CR-22-0221), the...
Daniel O'Connor
Jun 41 min read
MBTA liable under negligent hiring theory
In Matthew Theisz v. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (2025) , the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court addressed whether the...
Daniel O'Connor
Mar 271 min read
Chaloff v. Westwood - Appeals Court enforces parental leave law
In Pauline Chaloff v. Westwood Public Schools , the Appeals Court addressed whether a teacher’s protected parental leave affects...
Daniel O'Connor
Oct 28, 20243 min read
Irregular pay at an overtime rate is not Regular Compensation
In O'Malley v. Contributory Retirement Appeal Board , Docket # 23-P-1147 (2024) the court addressed the issue of whether traffic duty...
Daniel O'Connor
Oct 7, 20242 min read
Contingent retention bonuses are not wages under the law
In Nunez v. Syncsort , Docket #: 23-ADCV-63NO (Appellate Div. 2024) the plaintiff sued Syncsort Incorporated (“Company”) for failing to...
Daniel O'Connor
Sep 26, 20241 min read
Benefits do not accrue while on PFMLA leave
Bodge et al v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts SJC Docket 13567 (2024) involved a dispute between several Massachusetts State Police...
Daniel O'Connor
Sep 13, 20242 min read
Side agreements are not sufficient to modify an employee’s regular compensation for retirement
The public employee pension law defines “regular compensation” as the wages earned by an employee for services performed in the course of...
Daniel O'Connor
Sep 11, 20242 min read
Anti-spiking provision does not apply where there is a gap in the "consecutive years"
Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 32, Section 5(2)(a) governs in situations where the salary of a public employee increases by more...
Daniel O'Connor
Sep 11, 20242 min read
Unrelated conditions do not overcome heart law presumption
In Shailor v. Bristol County Retirement Board, Richard Shailor, a police officer, applied for accidental disability retirement benefits...
Daniel O'Connor
Sep 10, 20242 min read
Group 4 classification determined by title
Lennon v. State Retirement Board involved an issue of Group Classification. Lennon served as an assistant superintendent in a county...
Daniel O'Connor
Sep 9, 20241 min read
Post-retirement income limits under Section 91
Barranco vs. Contributory Retirement Appeal Board, et al , (Docket No. 23-P-217) (Aug. 29, 2024) involves the issue of post-retirement...
Daniel O'Connor
Sep 5, 20242 min read
Sharkey wins case at NLRB as reported by Law360
NLRB Official Says Union Tiebreaker Vote Must Be Counted By Tim Ryan Law360 (November 19, 2020, 4:23 PM EST) -- A worker whose vote will...
Daniel O'Connor
Nov 20, 20203 min read
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