Renewal And Amendment Of Common Interest Agreement Between Participating Agencies Of The U.S. Department Of Labor And The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts Executive Office Of Labor And Workforce Development, Council On The Underground Economy

Renewal And Amendment Of Common Interest Agreement Between Participating Agencies Of The U.S. Department Of Labor And The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts Executive Office Of Labor And Workforce Development, Council On The Underground Economy (PDF)

Pursuant to the Period of Agreement section of the November 17, 2014 Common Interest Agreement made and entered into by and between participating agencies of the United States Department of Labor, specifically, the Wage and Hour Division, the Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (all represented by the Office of the Solicitor and hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Department"), and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Council on the Underground Economy through the Secretary of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (hereinafter referred to as “the Commonwealth”), is hereby renewed and will expire three (3) years from the renewal date below, subject to the following changes to the November 17, 2014 Agreement. The Department and the Commonwealth are collectively referred to as "the parties."

1. The first bulleted term in the Exchange of Information Section is hereby revised to read as follows:
   • To the extent permitted by law, the parties understand that in order to effectuate the purposes and provisions of this Agreement, it may be necessary, from time to time, to exchange information, some of which may be considered confidential. It is the policy of each of the parties to cooperate with other government agencies to the fullest extent possible under the law, subject to the general limitation that any such cooperation must be consistent with its own statutory obligations and enforcement efforts. It is the view of the parties that an exchange of information in which both entities are proceeding with a common legal interest is to their mutual benefit. The parties to this Agreement recognize the importance of being able to provide information to other law enforcement bodies without waiving the privilege of otherwise protected material or making a public disclosure.
2. The fourth bulleted term in the Exchange of Information Section is hereby revised to read as follows:
   • Confidential information means information that may be privileged or otherwise exempt from disclosure to the public or other unauthorized persons under state and federal statutes or law. Confidential information includes: the identity of persons who have given information to the parties in confidence or under circumstances in which confidentiality can be implied; any employee statements in enforcement files that were obtained under these conditions; internal opinions, policy statements, memoranda, and recommendations of federal or state employees, including (but not limited to) any records that would otherwise not be subject to disclosure under law as non-final, intra- or inter-agency documents; information or records covered by the attorney-client privilege and the attorney-work-product privilege; personal information on living persons; individually identifiable health information; and confidential business information and trade secrets.

All other terms and conditions remain the same.

The November 17, 2014 Common Interest Agreement is renewed effective as of the 5th day of February, 2018.