Let’s be clear: the Massachusetts Wage Act is draconian. If you violate it, you are on the hook for triple damages and attorneys’ fees. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has confirmed that there are no good faith exceptions to the statute’s penalty provisions – no matter how benign or innocent the reason an employer failed to comply.

While a lot of out-of-state employers know this, and try to limit the risks associated with the Wage Act by including a choice of law provision calling for the application of their home state’s law to their employment agreements, as Evolve Cellular recently learned, simply including a standard, broad choice of law provision is not enough….

In 2016 Evolve Cellular hired Alan Berrey as an employee, and the parties entered into an Employment Agreement with the following choice of law provision:

This Agreement, and any contest, dispute, controversy or claim arising hereunder or related hereto … shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of Texas applicable to agreements made and to be performed in that state, without reference to its principles of conflicts of law that would apply the laws of another jurisdiction.

In … Keep reading