By John Gannon, Esq.
Wage-and hour-compliance is never easy for businesses, and a recent decision from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) just made things harder.
In ˆ, No. SJC-13121 (Mass. April 4, 2022), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) ruled that paying employees late is equivalent to not paying at all. This means employees are entitled to triple damages if they are not paid on time, because under the Massachusetts Wage Act, employers who fail to pay wages are liable for three times the unpaid wage amount (treble damages). With that case in mind, here are a few common compensation mistakes employers should avoid to ensure solid wage and hour compliance.
Failure to pay wages on time: The Massachusetts Wage Act requires employers to pay all wages, including any accrued, unused vacation time, to employees who are terminated on their last day of work. For employees who voluntarily resign, all wages are due on or before the next regularly scheduled pay date.
Too often, employers pay final wages a day or a week too late. This is especially common with unpaid commissions. The problem here is that under the Reuter v. City of Methuen case, those wages are not paid on time. Therefore, the employee is due triple damages under the Wage Act.
This is what happened to the City of Methuen; the city paid an employee her final paycheck of about $9,000 (including unused vacation time) about three weeks late. The court ruled that the...
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