Section 3A Domestic service employee defined; violations; discharge; presumption; damages; costs - Massachusetts Statutes

Section 3A. Anything contained in this chapter to the contrary notwithstanding as regards sections one, two, three, four (1), four (4), ten, eleven and twelve, the term “employee” shall include any individual, over the age of seventeen, employed in the domestic service of any family or person at his home for not less than sixteen hours per week. In the event of a violation of section four (1) or four (4) by an employer of any such individual, the department of labor and workforce development shall have all necessary and appropriate powers to conduct an investigation of such violation. The discharge of any such individual, within three months after the making of a report or complaint of any violation of section four (1) or four (4), known to the employer, shall create a rebuttable presumption that such discharge is a reprisal against such individual. In such case, the employer of such individual shall be liable for damages which shall not be less than one month’s wages nor more than two months’ wages of such individual, and the costs of the suit, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.