Highlights

• The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently held that the Massachusetts Wage Act requires that employers that fail to pay wages owed to employees by the date required must pay treble the amount of the wages as liquidated damages, even if the employer paid those wages to the employee before the employee brings suit.
• This decision disrupts nearly two decades of decisions from lower Massachusetts state and federal courts that had consistently held that when wages were paid late but prior to the filing of a complaint, the late-paying employer was liable for interest on the late payment, but not three times the amount of the late-paid wage.
• The SJC's decision requires that employers ensure careful compliance with payment-timing requirements and may impose costly liability on employers, even for unintentional and minor payroll errors the employer attempts to correct.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) on April 4, 2022, handed down a decision with major implications for Massachusetts employers accused of wage-and-hour law violations or late payment of wages. In Reuter v. City of Methuen, No. SJC-13121 (Mass. April 4, 2022), the SJC held that the Massachusetts Wage Act (M.G.L. ch. 149, § 150) requires that employers that fail to pay wages owed to employees by the date required must pay treble the amount of the wages as liquidated damages, even if the wages were paid to the employee before the employee brings suit. This decision disrupts nearly...

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