Gerard Fontana & another v. City of Boston

Summary

The Massachusetts Appeals Court held that retired Boston fire department chiefs were not entitled to cash payments for unused compensatory time created through a formula converting unused vacation time. The court concluded that the governing compensation schedule did not provide for a second conversion of compensatory time into cash and that the Massachusetts Wage Act did not require payment for this category of time. The court reversed summary judgments for the plaintiffs and remanded for entry of summary judgment in favor of the City of Boston.

Holdings

1. The compensation schedule did not require a second conversion of unused compensatory time into cash. The plaintiffs therefore had no breach-of-contract claim for payment of the unused compensatory-time banks.
2. The unused compensatory time did not constitute wages earned under G. L. c. 149, § 148, and the city therefore did not violate the Wage Act by failing to pay cash for it.
3. The plaintiffs' compensatory time was not payment in lieu of overtime wages and was not governed by the reasoning of Plourde.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the parties' compensation schedule required the City of Boston to pay cash for compensatory time that had been created by converting unused vacation time and remained unused at retirement.
2. Whether the plaintiffs' unused compensatory time constituted wages earned, or otherwise payable compensation, under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 149, section 148.
3. Whether the plaintiffs' compensatory time was payment in lieu of overtime wages under Plourde v. Police Department of Lawrence.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded