Tag Archives: Wage Act

Key Takeaways:

• The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (SJC) ruled that employees whose claims for untimely payment of overtime arise solely under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) are not entitled to the more generous damages allowed by the Massachusetts Wage Act—including treble damages.
• Per the SJC, the FLSA’s comprehensive remedial scheme for recovery of damages for federal overtime violations precludes an employee from alternatively pursuing remedies under the Wage Act for the untimely payment of overtime wages due solely under the FLSA.…

More

On February 19, 2019, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) adopted an employee-friendly standard for determining whether a plaintiff is entitled to an award of attorneys’ fees under the Massachusetts Wage Act where his or her claims are resolved by settlement. In Ferman v. Sturgis Cleaners, Inc., the SJC held that a plaintiff is entitled to an award of attorneys’ fees when his or her suit acted as a necessary or important factor in causing the defendant employer to provide a material portion of the relief in the form of a settlement.… More

On January 29, 2018, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) held that accrued, unused sick time does not qualify as “wages” under the Massachusetts Wage Act. As a result, employees cannot maintain Wage Act claims against their employers based on the failure to pay employees for unused sick time.

The Massachusetts Earned Sick Time law does not require that employers pay employees for their accrued,… More