Massachusetts’ latest proposal to counter wage violations would emulate a heavily disputed California employment law by authorizing workers to sue employers on behalf of the state for wage payment violations, potentially letting them escape mandatory arbitration.
The bill is one of several ideas that Massachusetts and other states are considering in order to crack down on violations that are sometimes called wage theft, which is notoriously difficult to police.
But attorneys who represent large employers fear the states’ efforts—including a newly enacted Colorado law and New York legislation that stalled but could resurface next year—would bring heightened fines, increased litigation, liens on company property, liability for employers’ business partners, and even criminal charges for businesses or their owners.
“The political focus is on protecting low-wage workers,” said Alison H. Silveira, an employment lawyer at Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Boston. Massachusetts already has one of the country’s most aggressive wage theft laws, imposing damages of three times the unpaid wages, she said. And the latest proposal makes no exception for an error by employers or their payroll processors, even if they voluntarily correct it before a claim goes to court.
“Any good-faith mistake is punished the same way as someone who...
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