Dunkin’ Franchisee, Staffing Agencies Fined $1.5M Over Worker Misclassification
- The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office cited Northern Management Group, which operates more than 20 Dunkin’ locations across Eastern Massachusetts, along with its managers Jigar, Nikul, and Nilesh Patel, for nearly $1.5 million over misclassifying workers as independent contractors and failing to pay wages on time.
- Citations were also issued against staffing agencies D&J Services Group and Prime Management Services, along with their manager Daylon Oliveira, after the companies began supplying independent contract workers in 2023 to fill core roles including store managers, shift managers, coffee makers, and bakers.
- State prosecutors determined Northern Management and the two staffing agencies functioned as joint employers since workers operated under Northern Management’s direction and performed essential Dunkin’ functions, making their independent contractor classification — which denied them employment protections — a violation of Massachusetts labor law.
- Investigators also found the companies routinely failed to pay workers within the state’s mandated six-day window between August 2023 and August 2025 and often failed to compensate employees for travel between franchise locations; the AG’s office has ordered restitution to 100 employees along with state penalties.
Court: Guardianship Expenses for Incapacitated Worker Reimbursable
- Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal ruled in Fish v. Extreme Enterprises of Marion County Inc. that an employer and insurer may be required to reimburse guardianship expenses an incapacitated worker’s family incurred to enable him to pursue worker’ compensation benefits, setting aside a judge of compensation claims’ denial.
- Joseph Reed suffered a catastrophic traumatic brain injury in July 2022 when he was struck by a vehicle while operating a utility vehicle while edging grass along a highway, leaving him incompetent and requiring his mother to be appointed as his legal guardian before his workers’ comp case could proceed.
- After being appointed guardian, his mother sought reimbursement for $2,428 in guardianship expenses and $10,500 in attorney’s fees from the guardianship proceeding, but the compensation judge denied the request, reasoning the legal services occurred in guardianship court rather than before the workers’ comp court.
- The appeals court found that reasoning too narrow, holding that expenses can be reimbursable when they are inherently linked to the workers’ comp case and necessary to pursue benefits, even if performed outside the formal comp proceeding. The court held that since Reed’s incapacity stemmed directly from his compensable injury and guardianship was a prerequisite for his case to move forward.
- The court remanded the case to the lower court for reimbursement of the guardianship expenses and consideration of Fish’s separate claim for fees incurred litigating the reimbursement dispute itself.
New Law Extends Workers’ Comp to Public School Employees
- Alabama has enacted the Maryann Leonard Educators’ On-the-Job Injury Act, creating the Public Education Injury Compensation Program to extend workers’ compensation benefits to full-time public K-12 and post-secondary education employees for the first time.
- The program will be funded through a Trust Fund that received an initial $15.6 million from the 2025 education budget, but claims won’t be accepted until an implementation date set by the Program’s board, no later than Oct. 1.
- The Program will be administered by a five-member Public Education Employee Injury Compensation Board.
- Employees with coverage can select their own authorized treating physician under that plan, while the Board can order an independent medical examination at its own expense; employees without coverage will follow separate physician-selection rules the Board must adopt.
- The law extends the injury-notice window from the prior 24-hour rule to five working days, preserves up to 90 days of full salary and benefits for qualifying injuries without deducting sick leave, imposes new employer injury-reporting obligations using standardized forms and establishes a multi-tiered dispute-resolution process.