Hourly employees are entitled to be paid for all time worked. This begs the basic question: What is work? There are regulations that define work pretty specifically in Massachusetts. In this post, I will focus on the sometimes controversial topic…
Category: Massachusetts Wage Claims
How Long Must an Employer Keep Wage Records in Massachusetts?
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In Massachusetts, employers must keep records of their employees’ working hours and wage payments for two years. M.G.L. c. 151, s. 15 states: Every employer shall keep a true and accurate record of the name, address and occupation of each…
Wage Forfeiture and Valid Set-Offs in Massachusetts
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Generally, any contractual provision that requires an employee to forfeit earned wages is a “special contract” prohibited by the Massachusetts Wage Act, M.G.L. c. 149, § 148. As the Attorney General has put it, “an employer may not enter into…
Introductory Post from a Massachusetts Wage Lawyer
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I’m a little late with this introductory post, but now that this page has garnered a bit of readership, I figured I would take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Nicholas Ortiz. I graduated from Vanderbilt University and…
Employment Agreement Requires Employee to Bring Massachusetts Wage Act in New York
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The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently upheld a forum selection clause in an employment contract requiring an employee to bring his employment claims in New York courts. In Melia vs. Zenhire, Inc., SJC-10959, (May 8, 2012), the employee brought a Massachusetts Wage Act…
Treble Damages and Attorneys’ Fees under the Massachusetts Wage Act
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The right to get paid your wages is extraordinarily strong, even if you’re mislabeled as an independent contractor. The reason for this is the Massachusetts Wage Act and the fact that it provides for mandatory treble damages and attorneys’ fees…
What Is a “Valid Set-Off” Under the Massachusetts Wage Act?
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Unpaid wage law continues to develop in Massachusetts. Most recently, the Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) provided extensive guidance on what constitutes a valid deduction from wages–called a “valid set-off” in the law. In Camara v. Attorney General, 458 Mass. 756 (2011), the…
Wage Act Statute of Limitations in Massachusetts
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The statute of limitations for a claim for unpaid wages is three years. See M.G.L. c. 149, § 150. The statute of limitations for contract claims is six years, so a claim for unpaid wages can be brought after the…
Are Bonuses Wages in Massachusetts?
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As I wrote previously, the Massachusetts Appeals Court recently decided the case of Suominen v. Goodman Industrial Equities, 78 Mass. App. Ct. 723 (2011). In Suominen, the plaintiff was a former construction manager of a small real estate development firm and was…
Bonuses and Commissions under the Wage Act
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It matters a great deal whether a certain type of pay is covered by the Massachusetts Weekly Payment of Wages Act (“Wage Act”). If a type of unpaid compensation is covered by the Wage Act, an employee is entitled to…