Page 66 - BusinessWest October 27, 2021

EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES
LISTED ALPHABETICALLY
COMPANY
OFFICES (LOCALLY)
TOP LOCAL OFFICER
PRIMARY SPECIALTIES
RELIABLE TEMPS INC.
630 Silver St., Suite 9A, Agawam, MA 01001 (413) 786-9941; www.reliabletemps.com
SNI COMPANIES
14 Bobala Road, First Floor, Holyoke, MA 01040 (413) 887-6400; www.snicompanies.com
SUMMIT CAREERS INC.
85B Mill St., Springfield, MA 01108
(413) 733-9506; www.summitcareersinc.com
UNITED PERSONNEL
289 Bridge St., Springfield, MA 01106 (413) 736-0800; www.unitedpersonnel.com
WORK OPPORTUNITY CENTER INC.
73 Market Place, Springfield, MA 01103 (413) 786-8830; www.wocinc.org
Whistleblower
Continued from page 64
former employee who reports malfea- sance to the appropriate agencies.
Massachusetts, like most states, adheres to the at-will employment model. The at-will employment doctrine allows an employer or an employee to terminate the employ- ment relationship at any time, for any reason, with or without cause or notice. However, in addition to federal whistle- blower protections, employees are afforded additional protections under state law.
Commonly referred to as ‘wrong- ful discharge,’ wrongful termination
in violation of public policy is a sort of catch-all, judge-made rule that prohib- its employers in many states from fir- ing an employee who opposes or refus- es to participate in certain unlawful or unethical activities. In Massachusetts, an employee has a viable claim for wrongful discharge if they have a rea- sonable belief that they are preventing a violation of law. An employee who complains internally that his employer
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Joseph Ascioti
Candida Canepa
Bryan Picard
Patricia Canavan
Mary Akers
Temporary, temp-to-hire, and direct-hire services for clients in Hampden, Franklin, and Hampshire counties; specialties include manufacturing, technical, clerical, and others
Professional placement in the areas of accounting, finance, banking, administration, legal support, and technology; staffing solutions include temporary work, temp-to-full-time assignments, and full-time placement
Specializes in medical, dental, administrative, light industrial, distribution, and executive placement
Temporary, temp-to-hire, and direct-hire placements for professional and management, human resource, office and administrative, accounting and finance, medical office, warehouse, light industrial, hospitality, and information technology
Offers employement in the community and vocational training; light industrial assembly; capable of bringing production crews to other places of business
ROBERT HALF TALENT SOLUTIONS
One Monarch Place, Suite 1820, Springfield, MA 01144 (413) 732-8464; www.officeteam.com
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Ed Piekos
Placement of highly skilled office and administrative support professionals on a temporary and temp-to-full-time basis
SPHERION STAFFING
51 Park Ave., Suite 7, West Springfield, MA 01089 (413) 781-4120; www.spherion.com/westspringfield
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Brian Houle
Temporary, temp-to-hire, full-time placement, and professional outsourcing of accounting, clerical, light industrial, and technical staff
SUNSHINE VILLAGE
75 Litwin Lane, Chicopee, MA 01020 (413) 592-6142; www.sunshine.us
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Provides area businesses with skilled, dependable workforce through individual or group placement
VIABILITY
60 Brookdale Dr., Springfield, MA 01104 (413) 781-5359; www.viability.org
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Colleen Holmes
Alternative staffing solution with a social mission for area employers; human-service organization specializing in job training, job placement, and on-the-job support for individuals who are disadvantaged or disabled
allegedly violated a criminal statute will, more often than not, have a claim for wrongful violation of public policy.
Employers must be conscious of when employees make complaints about possible violations of the
law, and be cautious of terminating employees who refuse to conform to a company policy or engage in some action because they believe they are preventing a violation of law.
However, the tide turns when an employee takes things a step further and disseminates confidential infor- mation to the media or a competing organization. In the situation of Face- book, before Haugen resigned from Facebook, she copied thousands of pages of confidential documents and shared them with the SEC and Con- gress, but also with the Wall Street Jour- nal, which in turn, authored a series of articles containing the classified infor- mation. Although sharing the informa- tion with the Journal does not make Haugen’s actions any less heroic, it may muddy the waters when it comes to what protections she is afforded under whistleblower protection and appli-
cable state law.
Releasing information to media
outlets or competing organizations can be in violation of many non-disclosure agreements entered into between the employee and employer during the onboarding process. Because most non-disclosure agreements exclude disclosure only to agencies like the SEC and Congress, employers can explore legal recourse through vehicles like breach-of-contract claims. Typically, non-disclosure agreements require employees to return or destroy confi- dential documents prior to or immedi- ately after either party terminates the employment relationship. Essentially, non-compete agreements are struc- tured to allow employees to utilize their legal right to report potentially illegal activity or policies within their com- pany while protecting the employers’ legal rights and interest by limiting the types of disclosures allowed.
Should an employer choose to pur- sue a claim against an employee or former employee for exceeding the bounds of protected activities as out- lined by whistleblower regulations and
state laws, the employer may seek as damages any severance paid at the time of departure, private pension accrued by the former employee, stock options paid in connection to employ- ment, and general monetary damages.
If you find yourself as an employer in a similar situation, be sure to consult with your labor employment coun-
sel before moving forward with any employment action. u
Jeremy Saint Laurent, Esq. is a litigation attorney who specializes in labor
and employment law matters at the Royal Law Firm LLP, a woman-owned, women-managed corporate law firm that is certified as a women’s business enterprise with the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office, the National Assoc. of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms, and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council; (413) 586- 2288; jsaintlaurent@theroyallawfirm. com
66 OCTOBER 27, 2021
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