MA Employment Law (Workplace/Coworkers) Questions and Answers
If I receive a $400 weekly flat rate, commissions, and non-discretionary bonuses for working 60 hours a week, can my employer credit the commissions and bonuses toward my overtime and not pay me time and a half for the extra 20 hours?
Consult with a Massachusetts wage & hour attorney
Alan D. Meyerson
Submitted Mon, 03/21/2016 – 15:56
Although your question isn’t completely clear as to the factual scenario you’re in, if I understand you correctly I believe your question can be answered by reference to the SJC’s decision in Somers v. Converged Access in which the court said:
Finally, CAI contends that the judge’s theory of damages is supported by our decision in Swift v. AutoZone, Inc., 441 Mass. 443, 806 N.E.2d 95 (2004), which held that a Massachusetts employer may offset or credit a Sunday premium payment it provides to an employee in any week toward overtime pay it provides to that employee for working in excess of forty hours in the same week. That case stands for nothing more than the proposition that the Legislature did not intend the so-called Sunday law, G. L. c. 136, § 6 (50), and the overtime act, G. L. c. 151, § 1A, to provide double overtime payment (essentially, three times one’s regular pay rate) to Sunday (or holiday) workers who have already put in a forty hour work week. See id. at 446-447 (“If two statutes require an employer to do the same thing, there is no rule of statutory construction that compels the employer to do so twice”). The Swift decision makes clear that employers may credit Sunday premium payments against overtime payments made for Sunday work; they may not, however, reduce their obligation to make overtime payments based on the argument that, had they known they were obliged to pay overtime, they would have paid the employee a lower wage for the first forty hours worked in a week.
That said, a more careful analysis of all the facts and circumstances surrounding your situation should be undertaken by an MA wage & hour attorney. I urge you to contact an attorney of your choosing to discuss this matter, as well as what possible recourse you may have.