Fair Work Recovers $11 Million Judgment from Jordan’s Furniture

In June 2019, Fair Work filed a lawsuit against the furniture retailer Jordan's Furniture. The employee who brought that lawsuit was a former Jordan's sales associate. He claimed that Jordan's had failed to pay "premium" wages (time-and-a-half) for working overtime and Sundays.

His case followed a legal decision Fair Work previously helped obtain called Sullivan v. Sleepy’s LLC, 482 Mass. 227 (2019). In Sleepy's, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that inside sales people who are paid on a commission basis must also receive "separate and additional compensation" equal to at least 1.5 times the minimum wage for overtime and Sundays.

After two years of litigation, the trial court ordered Jordan's to pay $8.8 million in unpaid wages, triple damages, and interest to the affected sales employees. Jordan's appealed, arguingthat its pay plan complied with Sleepy's. In 2024, the Court rejected that appeal and affirmed the trial court's judgment. The Court held:

Simply put, a sales employee's commissions are one type of compensation, and overtime and Sunday pay are separate types of compensation that require employers to make additional payments to employees. By attempting to allocate amounts owed to its sales employees in commissions toward their overtime and Sunday premium draws, Jordan's did not provide its sales employees with separate and additional overtime and Sunday pay, thereby violating the overtime and Sunday pay statutes.

Sutton v. Jordan's Furniture, Inc.493 Mass. 728 (2024)

Following appeal, the trial court entered final judgment against Jordan's for $11.6 million, with an additional $500,000 in attorneys' fees and costs. That payment was equal to complete recovery of all premium wages owed by Jordan's to its Massachusetts sales employees for the time period between June 19, 2016 and August 1, 2019, plus triple damages and pre- and post-judgment interest.

If you have any questions about the Jordan's lawsuit, you can contact Brant Casavant at Fair Work.