Articles Posted in Blog

The “grand bargain” tucked into the Economic Stimulus package will bring some changes to hourly wage ruled rules, phasing out the holiday premium pay by 2023 and broadening the definition of “wait staff employee” covered by the Wage Act.  Under the new laws, employers will no longer be required to pay higher wages to employees…

Happy New Year everyone!  Great news for employees.  Massachusetts minimum wage increased to $13.5o on January 1, 2021, and the minimum wage for tipped employees increased to $5.55, as long as those tipped employees earn more than $20 per month in tips. For those following the minimum wage increases in Massachusetts, this is no surprise…

In response to the pandemic, the Federal District Court in Massachusetts just precluded an employer from firing an employee who said he was unable to work in the office due to a disability – he has asthma and is concerned about illness from Covid. In May 2020, Gabriel Peeple’s employer, Clinical Support Options, required all…

In an effort to avoid their obligations under the Massachusetts Wage Act (“Wage Act”), many employers now condition the payment of commission on continued employment.  Sometimes those same employers the fire employees to avoid the commissions because the employee was not working when the commission came due.  This may no longer work. The Wage Act…

Many families in Massachusetts use au pairs to care for their children.  The United States Department of State (“DOS”) administers this “Au Pair Program,” whereby foreign nationals obtain a special type of visa and are placed with host families in the United States, so that the foreign nationals may provide in-home childcare services to the…

Are inside salespersons who are paid 100% commission, entitled to overtime pay and Sunday Pay.  In short, yes. On May 8, 2019, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) issued guidance for all employees in Massachusetts who are inside salespersons and receive payment on a 100% commission basis.  In Sullivan v. Sleepy’s. LLC., 482 Mass. 227…

On April 12, 2019, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) issued a ruling that clarified many outstanding questions in class action practice in Massachusetts.  In Gammella v. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc., 482 Mass. 1 (2019), the SJC provided guidance on: (1) the standard for class certification under the Massachusetts wage and hour laws; (2)…

Employers work hard to make sure employees can’t hire their own lawyers. One way to do that is to make sure employee-side lawyers cannot get paid, and that typically means fighting the court award of attorney’s fees. An interesting question arose recently. Is an employee who settles a case under the Wage Act still entitled to an…

On October 1, 2018, the Non- Competition Agreement Act went into effect in Massachusetts.  This law applies to all noncompetition agreements (“agreements”) entered into by employers and employees or independent contractors in Massachusetts on or after October 1, 2018.  This new law does not apply to non-solicitation agreements, nondisclosure or confidentiality agreements, or invention assignment…

It has been long thought that union members would still have the protections of the Massachusetts Wage Act.  That our laws set a floor below which unions and employers could not dip below.  While some trial court judges have dismissed those protections, allowing unions and their employers to negotiate away rights to overtime, lunch breaks,…