Examples of Massachusetts Wage Act Violations
Wage Act ExamplesSome Wage Act violations are obvious- for example, simply not being paid for weeks or months at a time, or never receiving your final paycheck after your job terminates. Others are not so obvious, and many people are surprised to learn that a payment practice violates the Wage Act, whether they are the employer or the employee. Below are some examples.
Late payment of final paycheck: if you are terminated, you are supposed to receive your final paycheck on the day of termination. If you resign voluntarily, you are supposed to receive it in the next regularly scheduled payroll. Payroll cycles that do not comply with the Wage Act: the Wage Act requires payment within 6 days after the end of the prior pay period. This means if a pay period ends on a Sunday, you should be paid no later than the following Saturday. Incomplete payment of final paycheck: if the paycheck does not include all of your accrued, unused vacation time, or does not include any commissions earned prior to termination, it is incomplete and the holding back of the unpaid balance is a Wage Act violation. Wage deductions: if wages are deducted for anything beyond taxes, employee benefits (i.e., health, dental, etc.) or court-ordered garnishments, this too could be a Wage Act violation. Commission payments: commissions are wages under the Wage Act, and are due like regular wages when they are "earned." This one can be tricky- when commissions are earned is dependent in part on the company's commission policy, which could allow them to delay payment. If there is no policy, commissions are considered earned when the customer agrees to buy the product or service, regardless of timing of payment or delivery. Once earned, payment is subject to the same timing requirements as any other wages. Learn more here about the Massachusetts Wage Act. |
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Meet Our Employment Lawyers
Emily Smith-Lee is the owner and founder of slnlaw. She is a 1996 graduate of Boston College Law School. She was previously a partner at the Boston office of a large international firm, where she worked for thirteen years before starting the firm that became slnlaw in 2009. She has been recognized as Massachusetts Superlawyer each year since 2013, and in 2018 earned recognition as one of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's Lawyers of the Year. She has written a book on employment law: Rules of the Road, What You Need to Know About Employment Laws in Massachusetts, been interviewed by the Massachusetts Superlawyers magazine about non compete agreements, and written an op-ed in the New York Times about the dangers of non competes. Along with the rest of the slnlaw team, she has helped hundreds of clients navigate, negotiate, or defend against their non compete agreements.
Rebecca Rogers: Rebecca is a 2006 graduate of Boston College Law School, and has worked with slnlaw since 2013. She previously worked as an intellectual property litigation attorney for Fish & Richardson in Boston, Massachusetts, and clerked for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Rebecca has helped many clients understand and evaluate their non compete agreements and develop strategies for defending against non compete enforcement and negotiating resolution.
Jenna Ordway: Jenna is a 2013 graduate of Quinnipiac Law School, and also earned an LLM in Taxation from Boston University in 2015. She has been affiliated with slnlaw since 2011, first as a law clerk and then as an attorney. Jenna has been recognized since 2019 as a "Rising Star" by Massachusetts Superlawyers. Jenna works with employers to develop reasonable and enforceable employee agreements, including non competes. She has also helped employees understand and evaluate their non compete agreements and develop strategies for defending against non compete enforcement and negotiating resolution.
Elijah Bresley: Eli is a 2014 graduate of Seton Hall Law school, and has worked with slnlaw since 2020. He previously worked for a boutique employment law firm outside of Boston, and then for the Labor and Employment department of a large Boston firm. He also spent a year clerking for the judges of the Superior Court in Hartford, Connecticut. Eli has helped clients both evaluate and negotiate their non compete agreements, and defended non compete claims in state and federal courts.
How We Can Help
We have years of experience representing individuals and small businesses solve many different employment problems, large and small. You can use the button below to schedule a call back from a member of our team to learn more about working with us, or give us a call at 781-784-2322.
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