College Sued by Former Employees Over Wage Dispute
Two former Amherst College employees are suing the college for alleged violations of the Massachusetts Wage Act — paying exempt employees monthly without offering other payroll options, according to the complaint.
Former Amherst College employees have recently filed lawsuits against the college, claiming in the complaint that the college’s “illegal payroll policies” resulted in the withholding of millions of dollars in wages.
The initial complaint, filed on Dec. 26, 2024, stated that the Massachusetts Wage Act requires employers to pay exempt employees — those who are ineligible for overtime pay— on a “weekly, bi-weekly, or semi-monthly” basis unless an employee specifically elects otherwise. However, the suit alleges that Amherst College “maintains a policy to pay its exempt employees ... on the final business day of each month, even though [they] did not elect to be paid monthly.”
Plaintiffs Danielle Amodeo ’13 and J. T. Martin left Amherst College in 2022 and 2023, respectively. During their time at Amherst, Martin was the director of the Queer Resource Center and Amodeo was the associate director of communications and public programs for the Mead Art Museum. According to the complaint, the college's monthly pay schedule resulted in Martin and Amodeo each accumulating approximately $79,099.67 and $22,532.93 in late wages, as defined by the Wage Act. The act states that employers owe damages equal to three times employees’ late paid wages, plus interest and attorneys’ fees.
A similar complaint was earlier filed by Jessi Fournier, associate director of student accessibility services, who left Amherst in October 2024. This complaint was voluntarily dismissed in mid-January.
Plaintiff attorney Raymond Dinsmore believes that Amherst’s policy of monthly payment is a violation of the Wage Act and harmed certain employees’ financial situations.
“I’ve spoken to people who had to borrow money from family to pay their rent because they were used to getting paid at a certain frequency. [Others] had to rearrange their [bills] because they would be short at the end of the month,” Dinsmore said. “[Amherst is] drawing interest on those funds, and employees are waiting longer than they should to get paid.”
Caroline Hanna, Amherst’s director of media communications, said that the college has limited ability to go into detail regarding the lawsuit.
“All Amherst College employees have been paid in full and in a manner that is timely, regular, and clearly communicated from the outset of employment,” Hanna said. “We are confident that we have complied with the law and expect to vigorously defend the College’s position.”
Martin and Amodeo are currently seeking to certify a class action suit, where the lawsuit will be prosecuted on behalf of a larger group. The class is defined as “all Massachusetts exempt staff, exempt trustee-appointed staff, and exempt faculty members” employed by the college and paid monthly within the three-year statute of limitations. The class would not include non-exempt employees since they are paid weekly per Amherst’s staff handbook.
The complaint stated that there are hundreds of workers believed to be “subjected to the policies and/or practices challenged,” and it is therefore “impracticable” to unify all class members. If the class becomes certified, a large number of college employees may be owed damages.
Dinsmore compared the current complaint to the 2022 case Reuter v. City of Methuen, another late-wage payment suit related to the Massachusetts Wage Act. While in Reuter, the plaintiff successfully received triple damages for late wages but was denied class certification, Dinsmore believes the class in this lawsuit is more likely to become certified.
“Reuter was seeking certification among a wide and disparate group of departments,” Dinsmore said. “Here, it’s much more confined. And I think that the identity of issues is much stronger in this case.”
The complaint also quotes a section from the Amherst Faculty Handbook, stating that annual faculty salaries are “for nine months’ work but are paid in 12 equal installments on the last day of each month.” Equal payments over 12 months for “public and nonpublic school teachers” are explicitly allowed in the Massachusetts General Laws (Section 149:148), but Dinsmore believes that the installments should still be paid on a bi-weekly basis.
“I don’t read that provision as an impediment to our case,” Dinsmore said.
According to Dinsmore, Amherst has recently reported that all salaried staff will now be paid on a semi-monthly basis. “If that’s true, then as of March 2025, [the college] will be in compliance,” Dinsmore said. Still, employees could receive damages for past late wages.
The docket report currently establishes a timeline with a final judgment due on Dec. 26, 2026. Dinsmore believes that there are ways the case could be resolved within this year, although it’s “really hard to say” whether the case will continue onward into the next two years.
Correction, Jan. 29, 2025: A previous version of this article stated that Fournier filed a complaint after this lawsuit. Fournier filed the complaint earlier. The article was also updated to reflect Martin’s preferred name.
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