Articles Posted in unpaid wages

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in three cases that may fundamentally shift the workplace, by ruling whether or not employees wronged by their employer can band together and sue on a class action basis. There is a deep divide among courts over mandatory arbitration clauses, especially in the three cases argued today. The cases…

For the grammar nerds in all of us. Congrats to our colleagues, David Webbert and Jeff Young! Great work. View Article

A recent survey found that 80% of employers will Google job seekers before inviting them to an interview.  Your resume and references alone are no longer enough.  Now a quick name search has become routine, and current employers are keeping tabs, too. Although not everyone will have a glowing newspaper article about them, something as…

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…

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 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…