The Massachusetts Wage Act, which provides plaintiffs with triple damages and attorneys’ fees for successful unpaid wage claims, also applies to commissions. M.G.L. c. 149, s. 148 states: This section shall apply, so far as apt, to the payment of…
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…
I previously wrote about the general issue of the misclassification of employees as independent contractors. This is a hot topic these days in employment litigation in Massachusetts. In this article, I want to focus briefly on the Massachusetts independent contractor…
The basic rule regarding final pay in Massachusetts is this: 1) An employee who is terminated involuntarily must be paid in full on the day of discharge. 2) An employee who quits a job can be paid on the next…
The sharing of employee tips has led to a fair amount of controversy in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Tip Act, M.G.L. c. 149, s. 152A, sets forth employees’ rights to tips and service charges. Here are the basic details: Employees are…
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has upended life in the Commonwealth, causing serious health problems, mass layoffs, and fundamentally changing our day-to-day lives. While many “non-essential” employers have shuttered in response to Governor Baker’s COVID-19 order, many employers remain open because…
On January 14, 2019, settlement checks went out to the more than a thousand class members in a class action we brought against a Massachusetts home healthcare company. We were appointed as counsel for a settlement class of home health…
On February 25, 2019, the Massachusetts Superior Court for Suffolk County certified three classes of home health aides in Portillo, et al., v. Compassionate Homecare Inc., et al., Case No. 17-0283A, an unpaid wage class action. Our law firm was…
On November 19, 2018, the Massachusetts Superior Court for Suffolk County approved a settlement of a class action we brought against a Massachusetts home care agency. We were appointed as counsel for a settlement class of approximately 1,200 home health…
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s new website doesn’t seem to link to the office’s past Wage Act advisories. These advisories have been cited multiple times by the SJC and are entitled to “substantial deference, at least where it is not inconsistent…