Massachusetts Employment Law Blog

Serious failure to reimburse employees for the business expenses they incur in their jobs may be tantamount to unlawful deductions from wages. In Fraelick v. PerkettPR, Inc., Fraelick sought such reimbursement from her employer, after a couple years’ worth of failures. While business expenses had never counted as unpaid wages under the Wage Act, the…

Live and work as a driver in New York? Independent contractors working in New York recently received the benefits of Massachusetts law. A Massachusetts Court just ruled that people who live and work in New York, but are employed by a Massachusetts company with a Massachusetts contract, can bring an action against their employer based…

Temporary warehouse workers in Nevada found themselves passing through security screens at the close of their shifts to minimize thefts. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Busk v. Integrity Staffing Solutions, says this is compensable time under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Here, Busk and Castro have alleged that Integrity requires the security screenings,…

Are you required to pay the costs of operating your truck? Insurance, gas, repairs, paint, equipment? You may be entitled to all of it back, with triple damages. A delivery company that outsourced its deliveries to a variety of individuals and companies, was forced to recognize those drivers as employees and not independent contractors. This…

Companies are bought and sold on a regular basis, and a question often arises as to whether the new owner is responsible for wage and hour violations. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals , in Teed v. Thomas & Betts Power Solutions, LLC, looked at just such a situation where one company bought another company’s…

The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) protects individuals who are associated with a disabled individual from employment discrimination. However, the ADA only applies to employers with 15 or more workers. The Massachusetts employment discrimination statute is a little more inclusive, covering employers with six or more workers.  Under the ruling of the Supreme Judicial Court…

Drive a truck with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) under 10,000 pounds? Then you are eligible for overtime. Importantly, the GVWR refers to the weight a vehicle can carry, not the weight it is actually carrying. The court decided that GVWR was more important than the actual weight, because the actual weight can easily…

A simple discretionary clause in a commission plan does not disqualify earned commissions from protection of the Wage Act. Prudential Insurance offered commissions to its sales employees under a commission plan. Prudential retained the discretion to interpret and administer the plan, and to deny earned commissions to those employees Prudential terminated for cause, including poor…

A Massachusetts man who was paid after being laid off, will receive even more money because his former employer failed to specify that the extra money was for unpaid vacation days. In Dixon v. City of Malden, Mr. Dixon was dismissed from his role as a director of a nursing home, and at the time…

Philip was the Keynote Speaker at the Human Capital Series run by the Small Business Association of New England. Philip gave a lecture on January 30, 2013 entitled “Mitigating Your Employment Risks.”