EMPLOYABILITY AND HIREABILITY IN MASSACHUSETTS
- By Sally R. Gaglini

As the economy continues to slope, an assessment of a party's employability used to calculate child support guidelines and/or spousal support requires greater scrutiny and evaluation. The issues of employability and hireability (emphasis added) are intrinsically related to vocational skills, amounts and sources of income together with the opportunity of each for future acquisition of capital assets and income. It remains a mandatory statutory factor in accordance with G.L. c. 208 s.34 that must be considered relative to asset division and alimony. This same analysis applies to child support orders in the context of both divorce and paternity actions (in addition to modification cases). As with G. L. c. 208 s.34, the same basic evidentiary foundation should be laid in matters of child support awards pertaining to divorce and paternity. Consideration of employability and hireability, vocational skills, amounts and sources of income together with assets, current and future, substantiates a finding of earning capacity from which the court may attribute income. See II (H) of the new Child Support Guidelines entitled, "ATTRIBUTION OF INCOME" where a court, once the evidentiary groundwork has been laid, makes a finding that either party is capable of working and is unemployed or underemployed. The Court shall consider all relevant factors including the education, training, health and past employment history of the party, and the age, number, needs and care of the children covered by this order. Now that the Child Support Guidelines Task Force has eliminated the provision of precluding attribution of income for a custodial parent with children who are under the age of six, it will very likely expand the necessary inquiry to include both parties.
        
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