On December 13, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court answered longstanding questions about which entities may be jointly responsible for wage violations under Massachusetts law. In Jinks v. Credico (USA) LLC, a copy of which can be found here, the plaintiffs argued that they were employees of not only the direct sales company that hired and paid them but also a third-party sales broker that facilitated their work selling products or services for nationally recognized brands. Plaintiffs argued that the expansive and stringent ABC test found in the Commonwealth's Independent Contractor statute, G.L. c. 149, § 148B, also determined whether a third-party can be liable for wage-related violations. The result of that theory would have made an entity the joint employer of any and every individual in Massachusetts who performed work within the entity's "usual course of business" (Prong B of the test), regardless of whether the entity had any direct contact with or control over those employees.
The SJC rejected plaintiffs' theory, finding that the ABC test answers only the question of "who, if anyone, controls the work" performed by a worker and holding that joint employer status turns on who controls a given employee. In order to determine who controls an employee – and is therefore a joint employer - the Court adopted the four-prong "totality of the circumstances" test applicable to joint employment claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. That test looks to...
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