Daniel Klein Published in Insights Magazine’s Employment Law Update
“Mandatory Treble Damages for Massachusetts Wage and Hour Violations — One Year Later”

Daniel Klein’s article, “Mandatory Treble Damages for Massachusetts Wage and Hour Violations—One Year Later, “ was published in the Fall 2009 issue of Insight Magazine's Employment Law Update. Insight Magazine is published by the Northeast Human Resource Association. In his article, Dan discusses how the legal landscape for Massachusetts employers has developed over the past year since Chapter 80 of the Acts of 2008 (Chapter 80) took effect.

A little over a year ago, Chapter 80 amended the Massachusetts Payment of Wages Law making treble damages mandatory in all cases where an employer is found to have violated Massachusetts wage and hour laws, including inadvertent violations, without exception. According to Dan, “Chapter 80 constitutes a major departure from the former discretionary standard for multiple damages and imposes severe penalties that are unfair, especially in the vast majority of class-action lawsuits.” He further notes, “Chapter 80 poses excessive economic risks to all employers with Massachusetts workforces of all sizes and industries.” Dan explains that treble damages will be automatically imposed on employers found in violation of Massachusetts wage and hour laws. For this reason, he suggests that employers “closely scrutinize their wage payment practices and policies to ensure compliance with all aspects of the Massachusetts wage and hour laws, including provisions pertaining to overtime pay, minimum wage pooling and distribution of gratuities, vacation pay, prompt payment of wages due to active and terminated employee, Sunday and holiday premium pay under the Massachusetts Blue Laws, and restrictions on the use of independent contractors.”