(Source: Attorney General Martha Coakley) - BOSTON – A Holliston landscaping company will pay more than $169,000 in restitution and penalties to resolve allegations it failed to comply with the state’s overtime laws, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced today.
“Under Massachusetts law, workers deserve to be paid all of their wages including overtime,” AG Coakley said.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement Grasshopper Tree and Landscape, Inc. (Grasshopper) will pay more than $169,000 in restitution to former and current employees and penalties to the Commonwealth.
The Attorney General’s Office received a complaint in April 2011 from a landscaper at Grasshopper alleging that he was not being paid overtime for hours worked over 40 in a work week. The AG’s investigation revealed that overtime wages were due to other landscapers and some office workers over a two-year time period.
The AG’s investigation determined that from June 2009 to September 2012 Grasshopper failed to pay overtime wages to 41 employees. The State’s Overtime Law requires employers to pay qualifying employees time and one half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a work week.
The Attorney General’s Office is responsible for enforcing the laws regulating the payment of wages, overtime and misclassification of employees in the Commonwealth. Workers who believe they have not been paid all their wages, including earned vacation pay wages, are strongly urged to call the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465. More information about the wage and hour laws is also available in multiple languages at the Attorney General’s Workplace Rights website: www.massworkrights.com.
The matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Lisa Price, and was investigated by Inspector Nora Saint-Martin, both of AG Coakley’s Fair Labor Division.
