On September 13, 2017, the Massachusetts Superior Court for Suffolk County certified a class action against Helping Hands Company, Inc., a provider of home care services in Massachusetts. Escorbor v. Helping Hands Co., Inc, C.A. No. 15-2053-D. (Suffolk Sup. Crt. 2017)…
Category: Class Actions
Case Report: Mickevich v Fine Finish, Inc.
Yesterday, the Massachusetts Superior Court for Middlesex County issued a final approval order in one of our wage and hour class actions. This was a small class action under the Massachusetts Overtime Law involving just 33 individuals. The key allegation in…
MA Court Adopts Relieved-of-All-Duties Standard for Meal Breaks
The Business Litigation Session of the Massachusetts Superior Court for Suffolk County heard the defendants’ summary judgment motion in our case, Devito v. Longwood Security Services, Inc., a certified class action on behalf of a group of security officers who, during breaks, had…
Pending Wage Class Action: Massachusetts Home Health Care Agency
Our firm has filed suit against a Massachusetts home health care agency and its local franchisee on behalf of a putative class of home care aids (also sometimes called “home health aids”). The class action complaint seeks back wages, including…
Delivery Fees and Tips Law
Many workers in Massachusetts earn the majority of their wages in tips. For this reason, Massachusetts has strong laws to ensure that tipped employees receive all of their earned tips. In other words, every dollar that a customer pays as…
Controversial On-Call Scheduling in Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Attorney General recently joined the New York Attorney General and others in an inquiry into the controversial practice of retail on-call scheduling. Some large, national retailers receiving a letter were BCBG Max Azria, Carter’s Inc, Canada’s DavidsTea Inc,…
Case Report: Longwood Security Class Action Notice Mailed
Yesterday 812 former and current security officers were mailed a notice informing them that (1) there is a pending case against Longwood Security Services, Inc. for unpaid wages, (2) the court certified the case as a class action, (3) they…
Case Report: Wage Act Class Action Against Restaurant Chain Can Proceed
The Massachusetts State Superior Court issued an opinion on Jan. 5, 2016 allowing a class action for unpaid meal breaks to proceed against the Chateau restaurant chain in Massachusetts. Elizabeth Ryan of Bailey & Glasser and I are co-counsel in…
Off-the-Clock Work
The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently issued an important overtime ruling involving off-the-clock work. What happens when an employee works overtime but the employer claims they didn’t know about it? In the case of Vitali v. Reit Management, the Appeals Court…
Massachusetts Wage Class Actions
Claims under the Massachusetts Wage Act can sometimes be brought as class actions. This usually makes sense when there is a common policy or practice of the employer that affects many employees in a similar way. There are many examples…