News - 2015

Carole C. Cooke was quoted in an article in the Aug. 3, 2015 issue of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly regarding a Superior Court judge's order determining the amount of damages under the Massachusetts Wage Act.

If an employer represented by Ms. Cooke were eventually found liable for violating the Wage Act because of its failure to pay a terminated employee on his final day, its liability would be severely limited, according to the judge's ruling.

Under the Wage Act, a terminated employee must be paid in full on the date of termination. An employer that fails to do so is liable for treble damages, attorneys' fees and costs.

The judge determined that where an employer pays a terminated employee before he or she files suit, damages are not measured by trebling the unpaid wages, but by trebling only the interest foregone due to the late payment.

Ms. Cooke said the ruling "will be helpful for practitioners to understand the lay of the land" in the absence of any Massachusetts appellate ruling on the issue.