Page 68 - BusinessWest April 27, 2026

3. Handling Complaints Off the
Record (and Triggering Claims)
When budgets tighten, HR becomes
everyone’s side job. That’s when a
small issue turns into a big one. Many
retaliation claims start with a simple
complaint about wages, safety, leave,
or discrimination/harassment, followed
by a rushed manager move: hours cut,
schedule changed, discipline, or termi-
nation without a clear record. And if
you treat similar employees differently
(or a decision hits a protected group
harder), you’ve also created discrimina-
tion risk. The low-cost fix is boring but
effective: consistent process, tight docu-
mentation, and manager discipline.
“Even in a cost-cutting cycle, a few tar-
geted investments pay for themselves
because they prevent the disputes that
drain time, money, and leadership
bandwidth.”
4. Treating Accommodations
as ‘Nice to Have’ to Keep Staffing
Efficient
When every head-count line mat-
ters, accommodation requests can feel
like operational chaos. But obligations
for disability, pregnancy, mental health,
and schedule flexibility are expanding,
and Massachusetts law is more strict,
and accommodation requirements are
broader, than federal law. The Pregnant
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24 << LAW >>
APRIL 27, 2026
Workers Fairness Act adds another
layer. The cheapest path is a consistent,
documented interactive process. The
expensive path is a quick ‘no,’ a delay,
or radio silence.
5. Cutting Website Spend (and
Getting Tagged with an Accessibility
Demand)
Website updates are often first on
the chopping block. Plaintiffs’ firms
know it, and they look for easy targets:
missing alt text, inaccessible menus,
unlabeled forms, and non-compliant
PDFs. Massachusetts is a hotspot for
ADA website accessibility claims, and
there’s no small business exemption.
Basic fixes usually cost far less than
responding to a demand letter or
lawsuit.
Where Smart
Prevention Pays Off
Even in a cost-cutting cycle, a few
targeted investments pay for them-
selves because they prevent the dis-
putes that drain time, money, and
leadership bandwidth:
• Payroll and classification audits
catch problems before they become
claims (and stop payroll leakage).
• Manager training prevents the
one bad conversation that turns into a
retaliation or leave claim.
• Structured accommodation pro-
cesses improve retention and reduce
‘quick no’ risk.
• Website accessibility updates
reduce demand-letter exposure and
improve usability (and often SEO).
• Simple documentation habits
make decisions defensible and keep
issues from snowballing.
• Fractional general counsel sup-
port gives you a senior legal sounding
board without the full-time overhead.
Just make the phone call so you catch
risk early, negotiate smarter, and avoid
emergency outside-counsel spend.
Why Fractional General
Counsel Is a Cost-
control Move
A fractional general counsel is
designed for businesses that need
experienced legal coverage, but don’t
need (or can’t justify) a full-time
inhouse hire. The ROI is straightfor-
ward: you’re buying fewer surprises
and faster, cleaner decisions.
Here’s what that looks like in real
life and where engaging a fractional
GC typically pays for itself:
• Restructure triage before you
push ‘send.’ Use sanity-checking layoff
selections, documentation, and final-
pay steps so a cost-cutting RIF doesn’t
turn into a wage claim or discrimina-
tion case.
• Clean up classification before it
becomes back pay. Review a ‘convert
to 1099’ plan and flag the roles that
fail the ABC test so you fix the model
(or pricing) before you create misclas-
sification exposure.
Business W est