Bill would override SJC wage ruling Firms may have to pay triple back pay owed

The Boston Globe ^ | August 24, 2005 | Yvonne Abraham

[A. Pole]

Calling the ruling an enormous step backward for workers, state lawmakers and advocates for immigrants are working to override a little-noticed Supreme Judicial Court decision that they say limits penalties to be paid by employers who illegally withhold wages.

Since 1993, employers in Massachusetts found guilty of not paying their workers have been ordered to pay three times the back pay they owe. On July 21, the SJC said that the penalty tripling the back pay due an employee was not mandatory, but up to a judge's discretion and applicable only in situations in which the employer demonstrates ''evil motive or . . . reckless indifference to the rights of others."

[...]

Robinson Sunshine, who represents employers in wage suits, said that none of her clients have deliberately withheld wages and that they should not have to pay triple damages for unintentional violations of the Wage Act.

''It is an excellent decision for employers," she said. ''The court has provided some assurance that all of these situations will be looked at individually, which is always better than having an automatic rule applied."

[...]

''This decision makes it so the only way an employee can get more money [than the back pay] is if he proves the employer had evil motive," said Philip J. Gordon, a lawyer. ''Most employers are going to say to employees: 'Good luck to you; it's my lawyers against yours. If the best you can do is get what I owe you anyway, my opening offer is going to be, I'll offer you less.' "

[...]

''People create a competitive advantage for themselves in the workplace by not paying employees," he said.

[...]

''You're talking about people who defraud their employees," he said. ''These are not folks we're particularly concerned about.

[...]