On December 13, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a highly-anticipated opinion, recognizing the concept of joint employment under the Massachusetts Wage Act (“Wage Act”) and setting forth the appropriate test for determining when an entity may be held liable for Massachusetts wage and hour violations as a joint employer. Massachusetts courts now have clear instruction to apply the multi-factor joint employer test under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to determine whether an entity qualifies as a worker’s joint employer for purposes of Wage Act liability.
The SJC’s decision in Jinks et al. v. Credico (USA) LLC involved Wage Act claims by sales employees of DFW Consultants, Inc. (“DFW”). Another entity, Credico (USA) LLC (“Credico”), subcontracted with DFW for DFW to provide regional direct sales services for its national clients. DFW salespeople brought suit against Credico, alleging that Credico was their joint employer, and therefore was liable for various violations of Massachusetts law by DFW, including independent contractor misclassification and failure to pay minimum wage and overtime in violation of the Wage Act. The questions before the SJC were (1) whether the Wage Act provisions at issue included the concept of joint employment, and (2) if so, what test the Court should apply to determine whether Credico could be held jointly liable for any Wage Act violations as the plaintiffs’ joint employer.
The SJC found that certain...
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