140 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2025 ed. © 2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP still received at least minimum wage.823 The SJC has also held that franchise fees paid by individuals misclassified as independent contractors are recoverable as damages because such fees require employees to “purchase their jobs” from employers and therefore violate public policy.824 The business may also be subject to significant civil or criminal penalties for misclassifying independent contractors. The amount of the fine depends on whether the violation is deemed willful and whether it is a first or subsequent offense. The specific fine amounts are set forth in Sections XVIII.C-D. XI. MANDATED TIME OFF AND MASSACHUSETTS LEAVE LAWS Both Massachusetts and federal law require employers to allow employees time off for certain activities. This section, however, will focus on leave time specifically mandated by Massachusetts law. A. The Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law The Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law (ESTL)825 entitles all employees whose primary place of work826 is in Massachusetts to earn up to forty hours of sick time per year. Under the ESTL, sick time may be used for the following purposes: To care for the physical or mental illness, injury, or medical condition of the employee or the employee’s child, spouse, parent, or parent of a spouse To attend medical appointments, including routine medical appointments, of the employee or the employee’s child, spouse, parent, or parent of a spouse To address the psychological, legal, or physical effects of domestic violence827 the employee was still entitled to interest accrued prior to the repayment. Awuah v. Coverall N. Am., Inc., 740 F. Supp. 2d 240, 245 (D. Mass. 2010) (Awuah II). 823 Awuah III, 460 Mass. at 494-97. 824 Id. at 497-99. Other fees, such as royalty fees, management fees, and supply and equipment charges, may not be recoverable as damages because no statute precludes employers from shifting such costs to employees. Awuah II, 740 F. Supp. 2d at 243-45 (holding that the “parties were free to agree that [employee] would bear these costs”). 825 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 148C. 826 940 C.M.R. § 33.03(1) (“An employee is eligible to accrue and use earned sick time if the employee’s primary place of work is in Massachusetts regardless of the location of the employer. An employee need not spend 50 percent or more time working in Massachusetts for a single employer in order for Massachusetts to be the employee’s primary place of work.”). 827 For purposes of the ESTL, “domestic violence” is defined as “abuse committed against an employee or the employee’s dependent child by: (1) a current or former spouse of the employee; (2) a person with whom the employee shares a child in common; (3) a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the employee; (4) a person who is related by blood or marriage; or (5) a person with whom the employee has or had a dating or engagement relationship.” M.G.L. ch. 151A, § 1 (g1/2).
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