Hiring | Termination and Severance | Employee Handbooks
Work Schedules and Overtime | Non-Compete Agreements | Parental and Sick Leave
Organizational Restructuring | Training & Investigations


Judy Polacheck is a corporate employment lawyer who helps companies comply with employment laws and regulations. If your company has a concern about its workforce, or receives an employee complaint, contact Judy for legal advice and strategies to resolve the problem.

Watch Judy’s Bloomberg Law presentation on the gig economy

Services

Many of Judy’s clients hire workers across national boundaries. Some have parent companies or subsidiaries outside of the United States. The cross-border relationships add a layer of legal complexity and risk, no matter the size of the business. Good legal advice is important.

Judy specializes in helping businesses whose workforce is not structured in a uniform way. Remote workers, part-timers, independent contractors and gig workers are all providing labor. Some people work on occasional projects and a few may be employed by affiliated entities. There may be gaps between the laws and regulations governing the workforce and the realities of worker relationships in the digital economy. An HR Lawyer can help protect your company.

Implicit bias training. Sexual harassment prevention. Responding to employee complaints. Recruiting strategies. Judy tailors her advice and services to each client’s need.

Judy helps companies comply with the laws on workforce management. Whether the need is for answers to quick questions multiple times each month, or a legal opinion or new document once a year, she’s available to her clients in a flexible way.

Speaking Engagements

Audiences commend Judy for entertaining presentations and informative group conversations that respond to their needs. Judy enjoys conference talks, workshops and trainings, and lunch-and-learns, particularly where there are opportunities for meaningful interchange with attendees. Most common topics are worker classification as independent contractors or employees; gig economy; employment law basics; harassment, discrimination and diversity; and cross-border employment. Her audiences are local, national and international.

Recent and upcoming presentations include:

Recent Posts
The Massachusetts court system found an innovative way to tackle implicit bias. Business owners might take inspiration from the court system’s simple approach.

Beginning January 1, 2021, a new state agency will get involved when Massachusetts workers request time off for family and medical needs. Employers can…

Notwithstanding the informative websites, exhaustive checklists and entertaining graphics guiding employers on their return-to-work strategies, employers sometimes feel like they’re…

What Employers Need to Know: An arbitration clause was, until recently, one of the least-discussed components of an employment-related agreement. Employers included the clauses…

Companies like Uber have come to not only symbolize the gig economy, but also serve as bellwethers—leading the way, somewhat haphazardly, through uncharted legal…

Massachusetts lawmakers packed a lot into the new bill I reported on recently. In addition to changing the state’s law on non-compete agreements, they…

In the final minutes of July, after many years of debate, Massachusetts legislators passed a bill that includes major changes to the state’s law…

Your intrepid correspondent recently attended the Midwinter Meeting of the American Bar Association’s International Labor and Employment Law Committee. Attorneys from around the world…

The world has entered a new chapter in awareness of workplace sexual harassment, even for law firms. On June 13, please join Judy Polacheck…

WHAT’S NEW: If you know anything about non-compete agreements in Massachusetts, you probably know they’ve been a flashpoint of debate more than once. The…

Judy Polacheck, Boston employment lawyer at Polacheck HR Law LLC, will be a speaker for “Drawing a Line: Addressing Harassment in the Arts,” a…

WHAT’S NEW: It would be a good idea for employers to set aside some time in January 2018 to address HR Law issues. Workplace…

Judy Polacheck, Boston employment lawyer at Polacheck HR Law LLC, announces that she will be a speaker at this year’s New England Human Resources…

WHAT’S NEW: After a decision yesterday by the highest court in Massachusetts, an employer cannot enforce an absolute bar against employee medical marijuana use,…

WHAT’S NEW: It’s difficult for an employer to ignore the risk of terrorism in our society. Highly visible terrorist attacks have caused workplace injuries…

On April 20, Judy Polacheck, Boston employment lawyer at Polacheck HR Law LLC, returned to WeWork South Station to present “Hiring the Global Workforce,”…

WHAT’S NEW: Marijuana use is no longer illegal under Massachusetts law. What does that mean for employers, employees and the workplace? Marijuana use is…

On January 19th, Judy Polacheck, Boston employment lawyer at Polacheck HR Law LLC, presented, “Best Practices for Legally Hiring and Managing Independent Contractors and…

There is a new book by NYU Stern School of Business professor Arun Sundararajan for those readers interested in the rise of gig workers,…

Judy Polacheck, Boston employment lawyer at Polacheck HR Law LLC, will serve as a speaker on the panel,  “Terrorism & The Workplace: What Is…

On November 10th, Judy Polacheck, Boston employment lawyer at Polacheck HR Law LLC, presented, “Best Practices for Legally Hiring and Managing Independent Contractors and…

Important guidance for employers on how to conduct a legally compliant job candidate interview. There are fabulous resources expounding at length on this topic….

New legislative attention to the status of independent contractors demonstrates the rise of contingent workers and the sharing economy. There was a lot of commentary in 2015 about an increased utilization of independent contractors and other contingent workers, instead of employees, throughout the world. Corporate use of the contingent…

Employers need to take specific actions to comply with the Massachusetts Pay Equity Act, which makes it illegal for employers to ask about a…

Businesses using independent contractors like Uber and others in the gig economy need to understand how worker relationships are viewed under state and federal…