Tech Employees Facing Missing or Late Pay Checks in Light of Silicon Valley Bank Crash
On March 10, 2023, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which regulates American bank deposits, declared that Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th-largest lender in America, failed. SVB’s collapse marked the second-largest US bank failure in history, withholding approximately $209 billion in assets at the time of its collapse. Primarily known for its work with venture-backed tech companies, it is no surprise that employees in this sector are rightfully worried.
With some start-up employees receiving notice from their employers that they will not make payroll in the coming weeks, many are asking themselves what rights does someone have if their employer either fails to pay them or pays them late? The attorneys at MA Employment Lawyers can help.
Employees’ Rights To Timely Paid Wages
The Massachusetts Wage Act is the statute that primarily governs the payment of wages in Massachusetts. The Wage Act sets forth when employers must pay their employees. M.G.L. ch. 149 § 148. When an employer must pay you depends on the circumstances, but most fall into the following categories:
· If you are currently employed, you are entitled to payment for accrued wages within six (6) days* from the end of the pay period during which your wages were accrued.
· If you have been terminated by your employer, your employer must pay you on your last day of work, inclusive of your accrued but unused PTO and bonuses;
· If you resign, you are entitled to payment for the work performed before your resignation within six (6) days* of the last pay period you worked.
Many employees in the tech sector or those working for start-ups have been told they will not be paid on time in the near future. If employers miss the above deadlines, Massachusetts law states the aggrieved employees are entitled to three times the value of their late/unpaid wages, plus the reasonable attorneys fees and costs incurred in obtaining that money.
As recently as April of 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Court in the Reuter v. City of Methuen case reaffirmed that the deadlines in the Wage Act are inflexible and non-negotiable. Accordingly, we encourage you to contact a seasoned and reputable employer lawyer to determine the value of your case if your employer has failed to pay you on time.
Your Employer Has Claimed There Is No Money To Pay You For Your Wages
In light of the SVB crash, we expect many employers in the tech sector to tell employees that payroll cannot be met because there is no accessible money to pay employees. The Massachusetts Legislature accounted for circumstances such as these when it defined the term “employer” in the Massachusetts Wage Act. Under Massachusetts law, your employer is not simply the company that pays you; you are employed by the president and treasurer of the corporation, as well as any officers or agents having the management of such corporation.
This means that even if the company you work for does not have money to pay you for your accrued wages, you can work with a knowledgeable employer lawyer to seek payment of your wages directly from the company’s applicable corporate officers. Simply put, if your employer tells you they do not have the money to pay you this month, you may have other avenues for obtaining satisfaction of your wages.
Your Employer Expects You To Continue To Work Without Payment
Many employers in the tech sector use the phrase “sweat equity” to describe the act of employing people they cannot pay while the start-up company is in its infancy, or facing difficult times. Sweat equity is merely a pretty term for wage theft. The Massachusetts Wage Act requires employers to timely pay employees for all hours worked. If you are not being paid, or if your employer tells you that they cannot pay you this pay period, but that you will be paid later when they have more cash on hand, we encourage you to contact an employment lawyer to assist you in obtaining the wages you are owed.
If after reading this article determine that you need a skilled employment attorney, please call us now or contact us online to schedule a free consultation.
Read MoreFAMILIES FIRST CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE ACT
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS – MA Employment Lawyer speaks with NBC10 Boston reporter Alysha Palumbo about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, its benefit to working families, its allowances for full or part-time employees, and how businesses will be affected.
Working Mass. Parents May Qualify for Paid Leave During Child’s Remote, Hybrid Learning
For more information about wage violations or equal pay violations, contact our attorneys today.
Read MoreNew Discrimination, Disability Case
The First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled than an employee who made an accommodation request for a disability after engaging in serious work-place misconduct had not been discriminated against by her employer upon termination. This case forced the Court to balance the rights and protections Congress has put in place for disabled employees and an employers’ right to discharge disabled and non-disabled employees alike for violating established and neutrally applied rules of conduct.
This decision stems from a case brought by an employee suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”). The employee alleged disability discrimination and failure to accommodate on the part of her employer, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). The employee engaged in behavior that included throwing and slamming company equipment and directing expletives towards her co-workers. The employer found that this behavior breached its rules of conduct and made the decision to fire the employee. Before the employer was able to act on its decision, the employee informed the employer of her disability, PTSD. In this communication, the employee requested a workplace accommodation, to work from home, to avoid recurrence of the problem behavior. The employer denied this request and fired the employee.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the U.S. District Court judge’s decision in favor of the employer, finding where “an accommodation request follows fireable misconduct, it ordinarily should not be viewed as an accommodation proposal at all” and an interactive process may not be required. The Court further found that the employee failed to establish the employer had discriminatory intent related to the employee’s PTSD, as would support her ADA disparate treatment discrimination claim.
This ruling puts employees in a catch 22—alert your employer of your disability, which may put you at risk of future negative treatment, or risk being fired without recourse when your previously unannounced disability manifests and causes complications in the workplace. If you or someone you know needs advice navigating the difficulties associated with working with a disability, the attorneys of MA Employment Lawyers are standing by. You can contact us by calling or by emailing us.
The materials on this website are for informational purposes only. Nothing on this web site is intended to be legal advice. No attorney-client relationship will exist with the MA Employment Lawyers unless we so agree in writing after personal consultation. The purpose of the information on this website is for advertising and marketing only.
Read MoreSettlement Alert
FMLA Retaliation – MA Employment Lawyers secured a settlement for a client subjected to retaliation by their employer after exercising their rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). The FMLA entitles qualifying employees access to twelve (12) weeks of unpaid leave per year. Employees may qualify for FMLA leave if they: (a) work for a public employer or private employer that employed fifty (50) or more employees for at least twenty (20) workweeks during either the current or previous year, (b) have worked at least 1,250 hours for the employer for a minimum of twelve (12) months and (c) work at, or are predominantly assigned work from, a location where at least fifty (50) employees work, or within seventy-five (75) miles of that location. Qualifying employees that exercise their right to FMLA leave, or make a request to do so, are protected from being retaliated against by their employer. Retaliation can include, but is not limited to, a reduction in pay, hours, or responsibility, demotion, termination, or withholding of an earned raise or bonus.
If you or someone you know may have been retaliated gainst after exercising their rights in the workplace, out attorneys are standing by. You can contact us by calling or emailing us.
The materials on this website are for informational purposes only. Nothing on this web site is intended to be legal advice. No attorney-client relationship will exist with the MA Employment Lawyers unless we so agree in writing after personal consultation. The purpose of the information on this website is for advertising and marketing only.
Read MoreBaking Company Delivery Drivers Entitled To Overtime Pay
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled last week that delivery drivers for a baking company are exempt employees and entitled to overtime pay.
The bakery drivers were not paid overtime pay for all hours worked in excess of forty in a work week. Generally carriers are exempt from the federal overtime law, the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), but there are certain classes of drivers who are entitled to overtime. In this case, the delivery drivers were protected and thus entitled to overtime, because they operated a vehicle weighing 10,000 pounds or less.
If you are a delivery driver and operate a delivery truck weighing 10,000 pounds or less, you may be entitled to unpaid overtime compensation. For a free consultation, please contact the experienced attorneys at MA Employment Lawyers.
Read MorePizza Delivery Drivers May Proceed With Wage Class Action
A Massachusetts federal court judge recently ruled that a group of pizza delivery drivers for a Domino’s pizza franchise may proceed with two of their class action claims (1) withholding service fees and charges that were given and designated as “delivery charges,” and (2) not paying drivers properly for doing work inside stores, such as folding pizza boxes.
This pizza franchise owner was advertising “delivery charges” yet withholding almost half those charges from the delivery drivers. In addition, the employer was asking delivery drivers to perform non-delivery work that co-workers, who do receive a minimum wage, perform – such as folding pizza boxes. The drivers may now proceed as a group to challenge the pizza franchise’s practice of charging customers for the delivery without remitting that entire charge to drivers and not paying minimum wage for non-tipped inside work.
If you are a food service delivery driver and believe your employer is not paying you properly for delivery charges or inside work, please contact the experienced attorneys of MA Employment Lawyers, for a free consultation.
Read MoreObesity a Disease
MLL has extensive experience representing employees with disabilities who have been discriminated against because of those disabilities. In doing so, MLL has learned that the law generally does not recognize obesity as a protected disability. All that may soon change, in large part due to the American Medical Association’s decision, released in June 2013, that obesity is to be considered a disease. If courts pick up on this trend, employees who suffer from a workplace filled with jokes about their weight may be able to successfully sue under State and Federal laws protecting disabled individuals. MLL monitors updates like this on a day-to-day basis. Doing so allows MLL to effectively represent their clients and achieve maximize results. For more information, contact the experienced attorneys of MA Employment Lawyers today. (Tags: Harassment, Discrimination)
Read MoreWeakening the Wage Act to Help Employees:
On August 12, 2013, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court weakened the Wage Act by holding that it does displace common-law claims for unpaid wages. In doing so, the SJC rejected a favorite argument of employers that prevented employees from recovering lost wages earned over three years ago. MLL has already begun to implement this important case into its arsenal and has successfully used it to argue for damages that were previously lost to its employee clients. With MLL as your lawyers, you will have a team that knows the law and knows how to use it. For more information, contact the trusted legal team of MA Employment Lawyers today. (Tags: Wage Violations)
Read MoreYour Boss Said What?
Your co-workers’ and supervisors’ comments can provide the most powerful evidence in support of your discrimination claim. Just recently, an employer was found to have engaged in impermissible age discrimination in part because a supervisor described a termination as providing an opportunity to “bring the next generation in” and that the company had a plan to “bring in younger people” to take the place of the “older people” when they leave. These types of comments alone can support a discrimination claim. If you’ve suffered comments like these, call us today for a free consolation. For more information, contact the trusted legal team of MA Employment Lawyers today. (Tags: Harassment, Discrimination)
Read MoreMassachusetts Wage Act Strengthened
Recently, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court strengthen the Wage Act’s teeth by holding that manages of LLCs can be personally liable for violations of the Wage Act committed by the LLC. MLL is well aware of how to turn up the heat on wage claims and has begun to utilize this important case to make employers pay for their mistakes. In doing so, MLL is going after not only the employer who made the mistake, but the individual supervisor who made the mistaken decision. For more information, contact the skilled legal team of MA Employment Lawyers today.
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