Massachusetts Employment Law Blog

A court ruling suggests there will be little tolerance if an employer in any way retaliates against an employee filing a lawsuit. The court confirmed that employees may not be fired for filing a lawsuit – even if the firing takes place three years later and with no direct evidence of retaliation. In Travers v.…

Great news for delivery workers who should be classified as employees and not independent contractors. In a swift decision last week, the Massachusetts Superior Court enforced the Independent Contractor law and decided that it was not preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAA) of 1994. In Okeke v. Dynamex Operations East, Inc., the…

Philip has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Super Lawyers in New England and one of the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Massachusetts, across all practice areas for 2013. He has been named to the list of Massachusetts Super Lawyers every year since 2004. (View Listing). Super Lawyers is a directory featuring top…

Payroll cards are seemingly ever-growing in popularity. They act just like a debit card and give you quick and easy access to your money. The employee doesn’t need a bank account, and the employer doesn’t have to pay check-cashing fees. The employer gives you a card, dumps the wages in your account, and everyone carries…

Contractors working on public works projects must pay their workers prevailing wages, even when the Department of Labor fails to set a prevailing wage rate for a particular job. In George et al v. National Water Main Cleaning Company et al, the contractor hired “catch basin cleaning” employees to clean state and city sewers. The…

Once limited to two or three years of recovery for unpaid wages under Massachusetts law, employees can now look back up to six years. This week, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that employees could recover unpaid wages using common law breach of contract and other causes of action. Important? Absolutely. Under common law, employers may…

If you are paid by the hour, be wary of your company’s policies regarding working through breaks, lunches, and after your shift – especially when lunch deductions are automatic. Working more hours than you are paid for could be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In Manning v. Boston Med. Ctr. Corp.,…

A parent corporation who franchises out their business can be found liable for the franchisee’s unpaid wages. In Depianti v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Inc., Depianti will now be able to claim against Jan-Pro, even though he does not directly work for them. Depianti was misclassified as an independent contractor instead of an employee by the…

Should LLC managers escape the Wage Act because they avoid the titles “President” and “Treasurer.” Definitely not. Peter Cook filed action for unpaid wages against Patient Edu, LLC and two of its managers, Steven Graziano and Michael Schulman. The managers argued that they could not be liable for unpaid wages, because the company was an…

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…