Massachusetts lawmakers continue to debate legislation this summer affecting employers and developers in the Commonwealth. Bills aimed at preventing wage theft by employers and further regulating shadows cast by new construction on Boston Common were the subject of committee hearings in late June. This alert summarizes the recent debate on these bills.

Wage Theft -

Wage theft legislation (S.999/H.1033) backed by workers’ rights advocates and labor leaders was the focus of a Labor and Workforce Development Joint Committee hearing on June 20th. The legislation, titled “An Act to Prevent Wage Theft and Promote Employer Accountability,” seeks to prevent wage theft, which is generally a business’s underpayment, non-payment, or denial of benefits to a worker. The bill allows the Attorney General or the Director of the Department of Unemployment Assistance to issue a stop work order against wage violators requiring the cessation of all business operations, gives the AG the power to bring wage theft cases to court for civil damages as an alternative to initiating criminal proceedings, and subjects a lead contractor to joint and several civil liability and provides that the lead contractor will share civil legal responsibility for any wage theft violation (See ML Strategies’ previous alert analyzing the contents of the legislation).