Staffing agency to pay $95,000 in wage theft settlement
Last Friday, Attorney General Maura Healey announced her office has reached a settlement agreement with Southern Mass Staffing (SMS), a staffing agency based in Worcester. The agency provided staffing services to an aerosol factory in Dudley, owned by Shield Packaging, Inc.
In November, Shield Packaging agreed to a $1 million settlement for “alleged wage and hour law violations and hindering the AG’s investigation” and the AG’s office found that the company was using SMS to avoid liability for violations of state wage and hour laws.
The AG’s settment agreement with SMS stipulates that the agency will pay $95,000 in penalties and restitution for violationg a long list of wage and labor laws, including failure to pay minimum wage and failure to provide employees with earned sick time.
In a statement about the settlement AG Healey said, “This employer was complicit in a scheme to evade state labor laws and rob hundreds of low-income workers of their wages. This misconduct not only cheats workers, it also puts responsible, law-abiding employers at a disadvantage.”