Massachusetts Employment Law Blog

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…

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 won a pay case about unpaid security checks. The decision came from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In Busk v. Integrity Staffing Solutions, the court ruled that exit security scans may count as paid work time under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Workers claimed the…

Drivers challenged contractor labels and won stronger rights. The decision came from the Supreme Judicial Court in Martins v. 3PD, Inc. The court explained that drivers completed core delivery work, which falls inside the company’s normal business role. As a result, companies cannot label this work as an outside service. Later, the court confirmed that…