South Boston pizza place has to pay $232,000 in back wages

n/t

I used to frequent this business until now. This is inexcusable. The owner has a decent business. This was nothing other than greed.

having investigated companies over the years for wage and salary violations, this sort of thing is far less unique than some might belief.

One particular trend I have seen of those that commit such violations, their actions are rarely limited to a "one off" disregard for the law. Often when investigating a complaint about one issue, I found other issues (violations) equally compelling. In order words, those employers willing violate one pay law often are violating other pay laws as well.

Another trend I have observed is that employees frequently "sense" they are being screwed but a) are not quite sure what the violation is, b) don't know who to complain to and c) worry they will lose their job if they complain.

Some of the typical schemes some employees use include:

Untimely payment of wages - Employees who work overtime must receive their overtime pay in the same pay cycle in which the overtime hours were worked. Overtime payments cannot be delayed into the next pay cycle or paid on a monthly basis.

Failure to pay wages upon termination - An employer must pay on the final day of employment all wages owed to an employee who is terminated or laid off.

Mischaracterization of employees as exempt (salaried) or nonexempt (hourly) - Massachusetts also has its own statutory list of employees who are exempt from minimum wage and overtime laws. Oftentimes companies categorize all of their employees as exempt from overtime laws, but in reality, the law is designed to have most employees be eligible for overtime pay.

Failure to pay overtime - employees who are eligible for overtime pay must be paid one and a half times their regular rate for every hour worked after 40 hours. Oftentimes, an employer will violate the overtime laws because the employer believes overtime pay is already incorporated in the employee's salary OR employers create scenarios regarding how the calculate when the employee has reached the 40 hour threshold.

Misclassification of employees - employers often attempt to avoid the requirements of the wage and hour laws by classifying individuals as independent contractors when indicia state that they are employees.

Improperly taking deductions from wages = some employers deduct from employees' wages payments for, among other things, damage or losses to company property, monies stolen or embezzled from the company, school tuition, moving expenses and educational benefits. Many of these deductions are unlawful - courts have determined the these types of policies often are an invalid setoff against the employee's wages because the company made itself the sole arbiter of the damage assessments, there was no appeal process for the employee and the damage assessment was not a "clear and established debt."

Unlawful prepayment of wages - an employer therefore cannot pay a week, two weeks or a month in advance to avoid the timely payment of wages requirements

Failure to pay earned vacation time - frequently, an employer believes it can refuse to pay earned vacation pay or establish a policy that requires employees to forfeit earned vacation time. Vacation time accrued or earned "under an oral or written agreement" with the employer is treated like wages under Massachusetts law, giving employees the same statutory rights to pursue vacation time owed to them that they have for their hourly pay or salary.

Mischaracterization of commissions as bonuses - A commission is compensation earned for services performed for selling a product or company service. A bonus is performance-based compensation in addition to the employee's salary. Like vacation pay, Massachusetts recognizes earned commissions as wages. Once an employee earns a commission, the employer must pay the commission to the employee. Commissions are often mischaracterized as bonuses, which are not wages under the law and not statutorily required to be paid.

In short, and unfortunately, there are employers ought there that work around pay laws with a whole slew of unlawful acts.