On October 4, 2011, U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel found sections of Fall River’s 2000 and 2010 Responsible Employer Ordinances (“REOs”), which mandated General Contractors and Subcontractors on Fall River public works projects to: (1) hire Fall River residents; and (2) required them to provide group health insurance, a pension plan or annuity, and an apprenticeship program, violated the U.S. Constitution and the Employer Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”). The Court forbade Fall River from including any of those mandates in its public bids or enacting any new ordinance to circumvent its ruling.

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