The Final Paycheck Was Missing Earned Compensation. How a Massachusetts Worker Recovered It
The story examines payroll records and disputed compensation terms rather than treating every unpaid amount as automatically recoverable.
The questionDoes an employer have to include an earned bonus and vacation in your final paycheck?
Illustrative example
WORCESTER, Mass. — A former operations manager has recovered $31,200 after her employer left out a quarterly bonus and unused vacation pay from her final paycheck.
The company said the bonus was discretionary and that vacation was forfeited when she resigned.
Massachusetts law treats unpaid earned wages seriously, but not every bonus counts as a wage. The dispute turned on which kind hers was.
Corvelline Law showed the bonus was calculated by a fixed formula in her offer letter and had been earned before she left, and that the company's own handbook paid out accrued vacation.
The employer paid $31,200, including the bonus, vacation pay and part of the statutory damages.
A separate commission claim was dropped because the plan made it discretionary.
Whether a bonus or commission is owed often depends on how the plan was written, so offer letters and handbooks matter.
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