David C. Henderson, a member of the firm’s Labor, Employment and Benefits practice group, published “New domestic worker law brings change – and more” in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly on April 6. David’s article discusses aspects of a new Massachusetts domestic workers’ bill of rights law that went into effect on April 1, and how a literal reading of key provisions shows that the most extensive of the new rights, those codified at M.G.L. c. 149, §§190-191, will not apply to most categories of people performing work generally considered to be “domestic.” On the other hand, certain workers whose vocation is childcare will acquire rights extending well beyond those generally held in the state by other employees.

David points out that these changes in the law are significant for a number of reasons. Two of them are that new rights, responsibilities and liabilities are being imposed within private homes, and significant means of enforcement are being directed at individuals, families and households that never before have been regulated as “employers.”