BOSTON (Legal Newsline) — Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Feb. 23 that Southern Mass Staffing Inc. (SMS) and owner Mesa Som will pay $95,000 after allegedly failing to pay minimum wage, overtime and earned sick time pay to hundreds of workers.
Nearly 480 workers were affected after they were hired by Southern Mass Staffing to work at a factory owned by Shield Packaging Inc.
According to Healey’s office, SMS Staffing also failed to maintain accurate records of payrolls or suitable pay stubs, misclassified employees and failed to provide right to know notices to temporary workers.
“Combating wage theft is a top priority for my office,” Healey said in a statement. “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.”
Handling the case for Massachusetts were assistant attorney general Drew Cahill, investigator Erin MacKenzie and supervising investigator Greg Reutlinger, all of Healey’s Fair Labor Division.
Shield Packaging previously agreed to a $1 million settlement for its involvement in the case.