Yesterday the Boston Globe reported that a federal grand jury will hear evidence this week about the Upper Crust Pizzeria’s alleged practice of not paying its workers properly. If you are unfamiliar with this issue, the U.S. Department of Labor initially ordered Upper Crust to pay $341,000 in damages, but Upper Crust may have deducted this later from those same employee’s earnings to avoid actually losing the cash.
The grand jury may find that there is no probable cause to believe that Upper Crust violated criminal laws, or they may recommend indictments against Upper Crust on any number of grounds. In either case, it’s terrible press and certainly has an impact on how consumers view their business (several reviewers on Yelp! have pointed it out with much disdain).
Don’t let this happen to your business. Familiarize yourself with the Massachusetts wage law, overtime law and its exceptions, and a few other key laws dealing with retaliation against employees who complain and the exception to employee status: Massachusetts’ independent contractor statute.
Really, read them. They’re not that long, and making yourself aware of the issues may prevent you from having to learn more about the treble damages law later on.
That said, there are federal law parallels for all of these laws and while Massachusetts is generally stricter (i.e., if you comply with Massachusetts law you will have complied with federal law a fortiori), there are some significant differences. When in doubt, always consult with your attorney or general counsel with expertise in employment law. Want to continue the conversation?
