Massachusetts Law About Wages
Massachusetts Laws
MGL c.149 s.148 Weekly Wage Law
MGL c.149, s.150 Provides for mandatory triple damages for weekly wage law violations.
Forms
Nonpayment of Wage Complaint Form, Mass. Attorney General.
Selected Cases
Camara v. Attorney General, 458 Mass. 756 (2011). Wage Set-Offs. The employer violated the Wage Act by implementing a policy in " which a worker found by ABC to be at fault in an accident involving company trucks may agree to a deduction from earned wages in lieu of discipline." " An arrangement whereby ABC serves as the sole arbiter, making a unilateral assessment of liability as well as amount of damages with no role for an independent decision maker, much less a court, and, apparently, not even an opportunity for an employee to challenge the result within the company, does not amount to 'a clear and established debt owed to the employer by the employee.'"
Other Web Sources
How to File A Wage Complaint, Mass. Attorney General. Includes a description of the complaint process with links to forms.
How to Protect Your Clients' Cash and Assets under New Massachusetts Personal Property Exemptions, by Robert J. Hobbs and Hon. Carol J. Kenner, NCLC, 2011. Includes information on wage garnishment with examples illustrating when rights should be asserted and plenty of cites to relevant laws.
Massachusetts Blue Laws, Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development. Explains rules regarding Sunday and holiday business operations.
Massachusetts Wage and Hour Laws: What Every Employer Needs to Know, Foley Hoag. A 20-page guide "intended to provide Massachusetts employers with information about the basic requirements of federal and state wage and hour laws, as well as employer responsibilities regarding the proper classification of workers."
Massachusetts Payment of Wages Law: A Plaintiff's Perspective, Philip J. Gordan and Elizabeth A. Rodgers, 2009. This extensive (66 p.) source details employees covered, employers covered, wages covered, and enforcement.
Must employees be paid time and a half for Sunday work?, Mass. Trial Court Law Libraries.
Must I be paid for time that I am "on call"?, Mass. Trial Court Law Libraries.
New Treble Damages Requirement Makes Compliance With Wage/Hour Laws Even More Critical, Employment Law Advisor, July 2008. The state law differs from federal law, and this article "reviews several... pay practices and provides practical advice on how to avoid wage hour problems."
What is the minimum number of hours for which an employee must be paid on a given work day?, Mass. Trial Court Law Libraries.
Print Sources
Massachusetts Wage and Hour Handbook, MCLE, 2008.
Wages and Hours: Class and Collective Actions, Matthew Bender, 2008.