Worcester Staffing Agency Pays $95,000 In Retribution For Wages

WORCESTER, MA—A Worcester-based staffing agency that provided workers to a Dudley aerosol factory has agreed to pay $95,000 in restitution and penalties for its role in a labor scheme that deprived hundreds of workers of minimum wage, overtime and earned sick time pay, Attorney General Maura Healey announced on Friday.

A settlement agreement between Southern Mass Staffing, owner Mesa Som and the AG’s Office resolves numerous wage and hour violations in connection with providing factory workers to Shield Packaging, Inc.

“Combating wage theft is a top priority for my office,” said AG Healey 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.”

In November 2017, the AG’s Office announced that Shield Packaging agreed to pay nearly $1 million, including restitution to approximately 480 affected workers, to resolve numerous alleged wage and hour law violations and for hindering the AG’s investigation.

Shield Packaging sells custom aerosol packaging products and workers primarily fill, label and package aerosol containers on assembly lines, said the release. SMS provided between 50 and 100 temporary workers each day to Shield Packaging. The AG’s Office determined that Shield Packaging was a joint employer and that it used SMS in an attempt to escape liability for wage and hour violations.

The SMS settlement agreement resolves the following civil citations issued against SMS and Mesa Som by the AG’s Office:
· Willful failure to pay minimum wage
· Failure to provide earned sick time
· Willful failure to maintain true and accurate payroll records
· Willful failure to provide a suitable paystub
· Employee misclassification
· Failure to provide temporary worker right to know notice

The AG’s investigation into SMS revealed that the company failed to pay minimum wage and provide earned sick time, suitable paystubs, and temporary worker notices to hundreds of workers between April 2015 and October 2016. Under the terms of the settlement, more than 270 workers will receive restitution for earned sick time not made available to them. SMS also failed to maintain true and accurate payroll records and misclassified certain employees as independent contractors.

The settlement requires SMS to come into compliance with all Massachusetts wage and hour laws.

Information submitted by the AG's office.

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