Massachusetts Employment Law Blog

Favorable Wal-Mart ruling overturned. Order decertifying the Wal-Mart class action is reversed, and summary judgment on a number of issues is overturned. In a suit alleging that Wal-Mart “wrongfully withheld compensation for time worked and denied or cut short rest and meal break to which they were entitled,” the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (“SJC”),…

Finally, the Wage Act gets its clarification. The law, which goes into effect on July 13, 2008, makes clear that Massachusetts takes violations of the wage statute seriously – with triple damages awarded to employees who must institute lawsuits in order to recover their wages. The clarification recognizes that failure to pay employees their earned…

In an opinion letter dated May 15, 2008, the United States Department of Labor clarified its regulations regarding compensable time under the Fair Labor Standards Act. According to the DOL: If you believe that your employer is not paying you for all compensable time, give us a call.

Recently the Office of the Attorney General issued an advisory on the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law, M.G.L. c. 149 § 148B, which was significantly amended in 2004. In order to overcome the presumption that an individual is an employee, the law, as amended, places the burden on the employer to prove that this individual: (1)…

Current and former employees of New Bedford’s Michael Bianco, Inc., today filed a federal court class action lawsuit on behalf of more than 500 workers, alleging multiple violations of the federal and state wage and overtime laws. Papers filed in the case describe how Michael Bianco, Inc., systematically and intentionally violated the laws requiring time-and-half…

The Federal District Court of Florida just ruled in Galdames v. N&D Investment Corp., that undocumented workers are entitled to the same protections of the federal overtime laws as those workers who are in the United States legally. Specifically, the Court held that “Defendants argument that Jaqueline Galdames and Guillermo Osorio are illegal aliens not…

February 17, 2008 The Hon. Deval Patrick, GovernorOffice of the GovernorState HouseBoston, MA 02133 RE: Effort to Clarify the Massachusetts Wage Act Dear Governor Patrick: I wrote to you in December 2006, as you were assembling your transition team, about a piece of bi-partisan legislation that passed both the House and Senate without objection and…

The Massachusetts Appeals Court has affirmed that all employees who receive commissions as a part of their compensation packages, are entitled to the protections of the Massachusetts Wage Act. The case is Okerman v. VA Software. According to the plain language of the statute, the Massachusetts Wage Act applies “to the payment of commissions when…

On June 11, 2007, the United States Supreme Court confirmed that a Department of Labor regulation, which states that companionship workers who are employed by an employer or agency other than the family or household using their service are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, is valid and binding. The decision…

The First Circuit has ruled that corporate officers may be held personally liable for a corporation’s failure to pay to pay its employees proper wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). While the district courts in the First Circuit have been willing to impose personal liability on corporate officers for years, the First Circuit…