Press Release  AG Healey Cites Quincy Family for Violating State’s Domestic Workers, Wage and Hour Laws

Boston — Attorney General Maura Healey today announced her office has issued three citations against two Quincy women totaling $233,486 in restitution and penalties for violating the state’s wage and hour laws and Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.

Lai Ha Yu and Amy Leung, a mother and daughter who moved  from Hong Kong to Quincy with their domestic worker, were cited for failing to comply with the Massachusetts Domestic Workers Bill of Rights and failing to pay minimum wage and overtime to a live-in domestic worker who provided cooking, cleaning, and personal caretaking for the family.

“This family subjected their employee to long hours and egregiously low pay,” said AG Healey. “My office will protect domestic workers against exploitation and enforce the law.”

The AG’s Office began investigating Yu and Leung after receiving a referral from Boston University Law School’s Human Trafficking Clinic and Greater Boston Legal Services. The AG’s investigation into Yu and Leung revealed that the domestic worker was hired by the family in Hong Kong and brought to the United States, but that once in Massachusetts, the worker was subject to long hours of work for which their employers failed to appropriately pay them. According to investigators, the worker was often required to work seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and during frequent overnight periods, and paid only $600 or $700 per week – far below the state’s minimum and overtime wage requirements.  

The AG’s Office has been active in its enforcement of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. The Office cited three families in May 2019 for violating their live-in domestic workers’ rights, and in June 2017, a couple living in Cambridge paid $35,000to resolve allegations that the couple failed to properly pay their live-in childcare provider in violation of the state’s wage, hour, and domestic worker laws.

The AG’s Office enforces laws regulating the payment of wages, including prevailing wage, minimum wage, overtime laws, and the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. This law regulates working and rest time, charges for food and lodging, and circumstances around termination for domestic workers in Massachusetts. The protections established by the law apply regardless of immigration status. The law requires employers to make and keep records of the hours worked by any domestic worker and provides guidelines for work evaluations and written employment agreements. Visit the AG’s website for more information on the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.

The AG’s office recently released its fifth annual Labor Day Report on the Fair Labor Division’s efforts to address wage theft and other forms of worker exploitation in fiscal year 2020. The report shows that the Division assessed more than $12.3 million in restitution and penalties against employers on behalf of workers in Massachusetts and highlights the AG’s Office efforts to advocate for domestic workers across the state. Read the report here. 

Workers who believe that their rights have been violated are encouraged to file a complaint at www.mass.gov/ago/wagetheft. For information about the state’s wage and hour laws, workers may call the Office’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465 or go to the Attorney General’s Workplace Rights website www.mass.gov/ago/fairlabor for materials in multiple languages.

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Kate Watkins and Investigator Lili Wu of the AG’s Fair Labor Division.

###