Legal Question in Employment Law in Massachusetts

Re: wage disparity

Thank you for your inquiry. To give you some background about ourselves, Conforto Law Group is a boutique Boston law firm specializing in employment law and committed to the representation of employees.

Your is a complicated question. All employment discrimination claims in Massachusetts must be filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination within 300 days of the time the cause of action has accrued.

Because you have had knowledge about the unequal pay for approximately 3 years, you may have a statute of limitations issue, meaning that the time period within which to bring your claim may have expired. Silvestris v. Tantasqua Sch. Dist., 446 Mass. 756 (2006).

Other courts, however, have held that each paycheck is a separate event in an unequal pay claim. Under this reasoning, each paycheck resets the statute of limitations clock, meaning that your claim may still be timely and actionable. Andujar v. Nortel Networks, Inc., 400 F.Supp.2d 306, 330 (D.Mass., 2005).

Aside from the statute of limitations issue, you carry the burden of showing that the unequal pay was a result of your race. There are several ways to accomplish this, including both direct and circumstantial evidence.