Page 61 - BusinessWest February 17, 2025

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Sugar
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for projected boiling times.
“We like to get started in February, but it doesn’t
always pan out. We’re just at the mercy of Mother Nature,” Williams told BusinessWest. “That’s some
of what makes it interesting too — you don’t know. People will ask, ‘how’s this year going to be?’ And it’s like, ‘well, we don’t know until April, once it’s all over.’ We almost always make enough syrup for our custom- ers, and it’s always good syrup. So, any year we can do this is a good year.”
Sweet Moments
Williams said he looks forward to this season for a number of reasons, including being close to nature.
“As the days get longer and it starts to warm up
a little bit, it’s nice just getting out in the woods and working on the lines. I don’t get to be out as much as I did when we were farming full-time. I’d be out all the time, if not for my full-time job, so we have some people that help us.”
The sugarhouse is open to the public from late
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“We almost always make enough syrup for our customers, and it’s always good syrup. So, any year we can do this is a good year.”
February into early April, and those dates aren’t set in stone so much as dependent, as noted earlier, on the weather and the frequency of that freeze-thaw cycle.
“Traditionally, we would always start right around the week of school vacation. Growing up, I remember having that February break, going out with the guys tapping,” he recalled, adding that sugaring season has long been a community tradition as well. “Because this craft is native to this region, it seems like people really have a tradition of visiting these houses and looking forward to it.
request and receive copies of these records. The Commonwealth, however, will use the data submit- ted by employers to publish aggregate wage and workforce data on the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s website no later than July 1 of each year, beginning in 2025. These aggregate reports will be broken down by industry.
Next Steps
Needless to say, if you have more than 100 employees in Massachusetts and are subject to EEO reporting requirements, and you have not filed your wage-data report with the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, you need to act fast. As for the salary-range disclosures, although Oct. 29 may seem far away, employers should start preparing now to comply with the deadlines. If not already in place, employers need to start developing pay ranges for each position in their workforce.
Employers also need to consider how and to what extent posting pay ranges in job postings will impact morale in the workplace. For example, consider a scenario where your business places an advertise- ment for an entry-level position at $28 per hour. Now, let’s assume someone with your company has been working in that role (or a similar job) for a few years, and is earning the same wage. That current employee
“Engagement rings are gifts contingent on marriage. When the marriage does not occur, the ring is to be returned to the donor, irrespective of fault.”
ation in the termination of engagements.
The court ultimately ruled in favor of Johnson, the
plaintiff, marking a notable shift in Massachusetts law.
“And it’s important to my sisters and me to keep the tradition going,” he added, noting that he has three sons of his own. “Obviously, I don’t want to put any pressure on them doing this, but they love it here, and they help out. My 11-year-old likes to run the reg- ister up front.”
Williams Farm Sugarhouse does some wholesal- ing as well, selling syrup to local farmstands and maple candy to Richardson’s Candy Kitchen, right across the street. There are online sales as well, “but that’s tricky; you’re just a small fish in a big ocean. But once you make a few sales and people like your prod- uct, they’ll keep buying.”
And the family will keep tapping, boiling, and serv- ing breakfast.
“There are times, like on a busy Sunday toward the end of the year, when we’re just dragging, but it’s fun,” he said. “We have three generations of family helping us out, too, so that’s great. Everyone kind of chips in to get it done.” BW
is likely to learn about the advertisement and ques- tion why they are not making more money. Employers need to be prepared with a communication strategy should this situation unfold.
Businesses may also want to consider conduct- ing a pay-equity audit to ensure there are not any pay disparities, as employees will now be able to request and discuss this information in the workplace. There are other important benefits to conducting a pay-equi- ty audit under the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act. For starters, it may help identify if you have any potential pay-equity liability in your workplace. Also, employers who conduct good-faith self-evaluations of their pay practices may have an affirmative defense against a pay-equity lawsuit.
If you plan to conduct a pay-equity audit, you should strongly consider working with your employ- ment counsel to preserve the attorney-client privilege, which may prevent certain information from being disclosed in any subsequent litigation. BW
Amelia Holstrom and John Gannon are partners with the Springfield-based law firm Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C., a law firm exclusively practicing labor and employment law for more than a half-century, focusing on litigation avoidance, employment litigation, and labor law and relations; (413) 737-4753.
Engagement rings are gifts contingent on marriage. When the marriage does not occur, the ring is to be returned to the donor, irrespective of fault. BW
Alexandre P. Pereira is an attorney with the law firm of Bacon Wilson, P.C. He is a member of
the Hampden County Bar Assoc. and the Estate Planning Council of Hampden County, and concentrates his practice in the areas of elder law, estate planning, long-term-care planning, probate, and special-needs estate planning; (413) 781-0560; [email protected]
Report
graphic and pay data categorized by race, ethnicity, sex, and job category.
As of this past Feb. 3, employers with 100 or more employees in the Commonwealth subject to the EEO-1 reporting requirements were required to file
a copy of their EEO-1 data report with the Common- wealth of Massachusetts. The law requires this to be done annually for EEO-1-covered employers on Feb. 1 or the next business day.
On the same date, employers subject to the EEO-3 (covered unions) and EEO-5 (covered schools) report- ing requirements were required to file a copy of those reports with the Commonwealth. EEO-3 and EEO-5 reports need to be filed every other year. Likewise, employers subject to the EEO-4 (covered state and local governments) reporting requirements will need to file a copy of those reports every other year, begin- ning on Feb. 1, 2026.
Recently, the Massachusetts Executive Office
of Labor and Workforce Development published a set of frequently asked questions designed to help employers determine if they are covered by the new filing requirements and, if so, what they need to do to comply. The FAQs can be found at www.mass.gov/ info-details/workforce-data-reporting-faqs.
The reports submitted by employers will not be public records under Massachusetts law. In other words, members of the public will not be able to
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Ring
haps should be, viewed as a time to test the perma- nency of a relationship prior to marriage.
A failed engagement that prevented in what all likelihood would have been a failed marriage is not a situation where a court should be required to impute blame to one party. The court argued that assigning fault in such circumstances contradicts the equitable principles the analysis was meant to promote. Additionally, the SJC pointed out that the fault- based standard is largely irrelevant in Massachusetts divorce proceedings. Likewise, the justices deter- mined that fault should not be a relevant consider-
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