Hello 2022! While circumstances prevent us from greeting you at this year’s cancelled MMA Annual Conference, Donna Brewer will be presenting with Newton’s Assistant City Solicitor Maura O’Keefe the Association’s annual summary of updates on municipal law via Webcast on January 31 at noon. The Webcast is free. The municipal law update is always a highlight of the MMA Conference, and we know you’ll find this presentation as lively and informative as always. In addition, Donna w

Our last newsletter summarized a ruling by an investigator of the Department of Labor Relations regarding the need to bargain over the impact of a requirement that correctional workers be vaccinated. Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Locke has now weighed in on the requirement that Boston police and firefighters be vaccinated. In Boston Police Superior Officers Federation v. Wu, Judge Locke denied the unions’ motion for a preliminary injunction to block implementation of Mayor W

The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits excessive fines but it is only recently that the U.S. Supreme Court considered when a punitive forfeiture constitutes an excessive fine. The Supreme Judicial Court subsequently agreed that a pension forfeiture can constitute a fine. Pursuant to M.G.L. c.32, §15(4), a member of a public retirement system who is convicted of a crime involving violation of the laws applicable to the member’s office or position is prohibited

Most public employers are aware that they have the managerial right to order an employee to undergo a fitness-for-duty examination. In City of Newton v. Commonwealth Employment Relations Board, however, the Massachusetts Appeals Court held that the method and means of such examinations are mandatory subjects of impact bargaining. In 2016, the City of Newton’s Police Chief ordered a Captain to undergo both a physical and a psychological fitness-for-duty examination because he

LFO 2022-1: Exemption Eligibility for Electric Generating Systems When Situated on Property Owned by a Governmental Entity The DOR Division of Local Services has issued its Local Finance Opinion regarding how to tax electric generating systems operating on land owned and leased by a municipality. If your community is wondering when such systems are exempt from taxation and whether it is appropriate to execute a PILOT with system providers, LFO 2022-1 may answer your questions

The new year is bringing no relief from a surge in COVID-19 cases. The focus is turning to constant testing, but municipalities are having difficulty finding test kits. The state is trying to help. Here is a list of the Guidance referenced in this Alert: December 29, 2021 Operational Services Division Guidance on COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test Kits through Statewide Contracts Q. Help! We and our constituents need COVID-19 testing kits and none can be found. What can we do? A. Th