Rosen & Goyal, P.C.

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Massachusetts Wage Act Overview

by | Mar 3, 2016 | Employment & Discrimination

Get the Wages You Have Earned

Here are a few ways employees get cheated:

  • They don’t get all their wages at the end of every pay period.
  • They work on public works projects but don’t get paid the prevailing wage.
  • They don’t get paid commissions when they are due.
  • They don’t get paid in full on the day they terminate, including vacation pay.

If you’re one of those employees, the Massachusetts Wage Act may provide a way for you to get back three times your unpaid wages.

Massachusetts has some of the strongest employee rights laws in the country. If your employer has not paid you your full wages, commissions, vacation pay, overtime, or prevailing wages—and paid you on time—you can sue to get back three times your unpaid wages, and also your attorneys’ fees and costs.

The first step is to file a wage complaint with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.  You need to do this before suing your employer.  It is best to fill out this claim as soon as you learn you are being cheated, and it must be done within three years of the wage violation. Otherwise, you waive your right to bring a wage claim.  You do not need to submit any documents, just follow the link below to fill out the online form.

https://rosengoyal.com/wp-contentwww.eform.ago.state.ma.us/ago_eforms/forms/npwc_ecomplaint.action

The purpose of completing a wage complaint is to give the Attorney General’s Office the opportunity to investigate your claim and get back your lost wages for you.   If the investigation results in payment, you’ll get your wages, but not treble damages and attorneys’ fees. And the investigation can take a very long time. That’s why you may decide to file a lawsuit.

After you fill out the wage complaint, you can ask the Attorney General’s Office for a “Right to Sue” letter.  When the letter arrives, you can file a lawsuit against your employer in court. At this point in the process, or earlier, you may want to find an attorney to help you with your case.

Because the statute is so punitive to employers, our firm often takes on wage claims on a contingency fee basis. This means that we will bring the lawsuit on your behalf, in exchange for payment from the settlement you receive from your employer if you win.

[nap_names id=”FIRM-NAME-1″], has a great deal of experience bringing successful Wage Act lawsuits. In the last few years, we have helped a number of employees who were being cheated out of their proper overtime wages, prevailing wages, or both, obtain satisfactory settlements with or judgments against their employers. If you think you’ve been cheated, you should call for a free consultation.