On April 14, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that employees seeking to recover damages solely for violations of the federal overtime law are precluded from alternatively pursuing remedies under the notoriously strict Massachusetts Wage Act. The holding brings clarity to the interplay between the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Massachusetts Wage Act.
In Devaney v. Zucchini Gold, LLC, three plaintiffs who worked at a restaurant alleged violations of the FLSA for failure to pay overtime wages, violations of the Massachusetts Wage Act for failure to pay the FLSA overtime wages in a timely manner, and violations of the federal and state minimum wage laws. The plaintiffs did not assert violation of the Massachusetts Wage Act for failure to pay overtime because, unlike the FLSA, the Massachusetts Wage Act exempts restaurant workers from its purview. Thus, the plaintiffs sought to hold their employer liable under the Massachusetts Wage Act for late payment of overtime wages required only by the FLSA. At the trial court, the plaintiffs recovered treble damages and attorney's fees and costs under the Massachusetts Wage Act for the FLSA overtime claims.
On appeal, the Supreme Judicial Court remanded for recalculation of damages, despite the "host" of case law under which plaintiffs have brought state law and FLSA claims for the same wage violations. Associate Justice Dalila A. Wendlandt reasoned that the remedial scheme of the FLSA, which provides for the...
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