Smith v. Winter Place LLC

Summary

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that G. L. c. 149, § 148A protects employees from retaliation for making internal complaints about alleged wage-law violations, even when they do not report those complaints to the Attorney General. The court reversed summary judgment against one employee, affirmed the denial of summary judgment for two others, and affirmed summary judgment against a manager whose conduct merely conveyed the employees’ complaints to management.

Holdings

1. Section 148A prohibits retaliation against an employee for making an internal complaint to the employer or its management about a reasonably perceived violation of the Massachusetts wage laws, even if the employee never reports the matter to the Attorney General.
2. The internal complaints made by the server plaintiffs to management constituted protected activity under § 148A, so summary judgment against Kimball was improper.
3. Sosnitsky was not protected by § 148A merely because he conveyed the servers' complaints to higher management; the statute protects an employee's own action to seek rights or, in appropriate circumstances, action asserting or complaining on behalf of another employee.

Questions Presented

1. Whether G. L. c. 149, § 148A, protects employees from retaliation for making internal complaints about alleged wage-law violations when they have not complained to the Attorney General.
2. Whether Sosnitsky's act of conveying the servers' complaints to higher management constituted protected activity under G. L. c. 149, § 148A.
3. Whether summary judgment was proper as to the individual plaintiffs in light of the evidence concerning their complaints and alleged retaliatory terminations.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded