When an employer does not pay an employee earned wages within the time frames set forth in the Massachusetts Wage Act (MWA), the employee is entitled to three times the wages owed, regardless of the length of the delay or whether the wages are paid prior to a civil suit being filed, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held. Reuter v. City of Methuen, 489 Mass. 465, 2022 Mass. LEXIS 152 (Mass. Apr. 4, 2022). In so holding, the Supreme Judicial Court invalidated long-standing case law holding that treble damages attached only if the wages remained due after an employee filed suit.
With certain exceptions, the MWA (G.L. c. 149 §§ 148 & 150) requires that employees be paid their wages within six days following the end of the pay period in which the wages were earned. However, an involuntarily discharged employee must be paid all earned wages on the date of discharge. Under the MWA, the term “wages” includes accrued but unused vacation pay and any earned commissions. The MWA’s private right of action (G.L. c. 149 § 150) provides:
An employee … who prevails in such an action shall be awarded treble damages, as liquidated damages, for any lost wages and other benefits and shall also be awarded the costs of the litigation and reasonable attorneys’ fees.
Prior to Reuter, a series of superior court (i.e., trial court) cases held that an employee could not recover treble damages for late or otherwise owed wages, as long as those wages were paid...
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