Authored by Michael D. Fleischer

Massachusetts Attorney General, Martha Coakley, announced several days ago that the agency’s Fair Labor Division had handled over 5,000 cases and recovered more than $8 million from Massachusetts employers for wage and hour violations in 2010. Of the $8 million, more than $4.6 million was paid back to workers in restitution, and the remaining $3.3 million were fines that were returned to the Commonwealth. The biggest settlement in 2010 was against FedEx Ground over claims that the company misclassified its drivers as independent contractors. FedEx Ground paid more than $3 million to the state and thousands of dollars to 13 individual drivers. Given the recent focus of the AG’s office of WH issues, we see no reason to think that these enforcement actions will let up in 2011.