Recent litigation in Massachusetts has focused on whether rideshare drivers for companies such as Lyft and Uber are misclassified as independent. In the case of Cunningham v. Lyft, Inc., No. 1:19-cv-11974-IT, 2020 WL 2616302 (D. Mass. May 22, 2020) a Massachusetts federal judge recently ruled that that the defendant rideshare company, in this case Lyft, likely misclassified its drivers as independent contractors instead of employees under the Massachusetts independent contractor law. This is a preliminary ruling based on the judge’s view of the likelihood of success. The court held that Lyft ..read more

If your employer has not paid you your paycheck, Massachusetts law guarantees you certain rights. First, your employer must pay you within six days after your pay period ends (seven days if you work a seven-day workweek). If you are fired, your employer must pay you all your earned wages on your last day of work. M.G.L. c. 149, § 148 (“any employee discharged from such employment shall be paid in full on the day of his discharge.”) Earned wages includes any earned, but unused vacation pay due “under an oral or written agreement” and any commissions that are “definitely determined and has ..read more

Managed Care Organizations (MCO’s) often contract with State Health Departments to provide care for dually eligible Medicaid and Medicare patients pursuant to requirements established by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  Care coordinators provide case management services on behalf of the MCO to various populations. Managed Care Organizations is a vague term for normal people but some examples include: Aetna/CVS Health Anthem, Inc. Health Care Service Corporation (Blue Cross Blue Shield) BMC HealthNet CareSource Centene Cigna Humana Independence Health Group ..read more

If your employer does not pay your earned wages on the date they are due, you are immediately entitled to triple damages on the late amount. If you are terminated, all wages, including vacation pay, are due on the date of your termination. If you resign, all wages are due on the next regular pay day. Also, if you are still employed and your pay is late, you also have the right to treble damages. I am highlighting this because today the Supreme Judicial Court issued its long-awaited decision in Reuter v. City of Methuen, SJC-13121 (April 4, 2022). In the case, the Methuen had terminated Ms. Reu ..read more

Post-Baccalaureate Research Assistants (“RAs”) are notoriously underpaid and overworked in research programs all over the country. The budgetary constraints of grant-funded research programs often lead to understaffing, which in turn causes professors and other senior research staff to assign ever-increasing workloads to the RAs underneath them. This results in RAs having to work numerous overtime hours to satisfy their supervisors. For RAs who do not earn a salary of more than $684.00 per week, these overtime hours entitle them to compensation at a rate of 1.5 times their regular rate of pay ..read more

The Massachusetts Wage Act (“Wage Act” or “Act”) requires all earned wages to be paid within six days of the end of pay period. M.G.L. c. 149, s. 148. The Wage Act applies to commission payments as long as the commissions are “definitely determinable” and “due and payable” (i.e. as long as the payment in question is a commission, not a bonus (link). Id.  If your employer fails to timely pay your earned commissions, you could be entitled to triple damages, attorneys’ fees, and interest on the late payment. See DeSantis v. Commonwealth Energy System, 68 Mass. Ct. 759 (2007). Commissions are ..read more

Many recent law school graduates and newly licensed attorneys work on document review projects while searching for stable, long-term employment. Most document review companies hire employees on a project-to-project basis and compensate those employees with an hourly wage. For many projects, the applicable compensation policy provides that employees are to be paid at the regular hourly rate for all hours worked, including any hours worked in excess of forty per week. Depending on the nature of each project and the duties of document reviewers, this practice may run afoul of Massachusetts’ Overt ..read more

Our firm is pleased to announce the conclusion of the class action case we brought against Six Flags New England on behalf of thousands of seasonal employees.  After extensive litigation, the Suffolk Superior Court recently approved a settlement which resulted in a $4 million fund to compensate seasonal workers for unpaid overtime. In addition to significant overtime distributions to workers, unclaimed funds will be distributed to the Community Legal Aid of Springfield, Massachusetts, a legal aid organization located close to where a majority of Six Flags’ seasonal employees li ..read more