Labor Relations

The Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations is the state agency that administers G.L. c.150E, the Massachusetts public-employee collective-bargaining law. This law gives most public employees the right to form, join, or participate in unions, bargain collectively over terms and conditions of employment, engage in other concerted activities for mutual aid and protection, or refrain from participating in any of these activities.

The bulk of the Department's work is in determining the fairness of labor practices; it is also responsible for conducting representation elections and helping to prevent strikes. The Department comprises three members, appointed by the Governor for staggered five-year terms. The staff includes a chief counsel, a deputy chief counsel, administrative law judges, and examiners who conduct elections, investigate cases, and author decisions. Department decisions are appealable to the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

Published monthly since 1974, Landlaw's Massachusetts Labor Cases (MLC) includes the full text of Department decisions. In addition, MLC includes annotated subject-matter indices with over 800 subject-matter classifications.

Landlaw's Massachusetts Labor Relations Reporter (MLRR) has also been published monthly since 1974 and includes digested versions of the decisions reported in MLC and comprehensive annotated subject-matter indices.

Subscriptions to either publication are available separately and run from July to June. A combined subscription is available at a discounted rate. Annotated index volumes are also available for the years 1974-2006. Special pricing is available for complete sets and multi-volume orders.

To order a subscription, simply call us at (781) 925-0907 or (800) 637-6330 (Massachusetts only) or e-mail us at orderlabor@landlaw.com and we will enroll you immediately.