Vitali v. Reit Management & Research, LLC (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-119-15)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 14-P-1304 Appeals Court DONNA VITALI vs. REIT MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH, LLC. No. 14-P-1304. Suffolk. May 8, 2015. – August 21, 2015. Present: Green, Milkey, & Maldonado, JJ. Labor, Overtime compensation, Wages. Practice, Civil, Summary judgment. Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on February 13, 2012. The case was heard by Mitchell H. Kaplan, J., on a motion for summary judgment. Stephen S. Churchill for the plaintiff. Jennifer B. Furey (Paul F. Beckwith with her) for the defendant. MILKEY, J. The plaintiff, Donna Vitali, worked as a bookkeeper for the defendant, Reit Management and Research, LLC (company), a property management firm. She was paid by the hour and, pursuant to both statute and company policy, she was to be paid overtime at one and one-half times the regular rate for any work done in excess of forty hours in a given week. See G. L. c. 151, § 1A. She brought the current action alleging that she accrued overtime that was not credited by the system the company had in place to keep track of employee hours. In a detailed and thoughtful decision, a Superior Court judge allowed the company’s motion for summary judgment. Because we conclude that there are material facts in dispute, we reverse. Standard of review. Our review of the allowance of a motion for summary judgment is de novo. Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. v. Fitchburg Capital, LLC, 471 Mass. 248, 252-253 (2015). Disputed facts are to be read in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, in this case, Vitali. Id. at 250. “The moving party must affirmatively show that there is no real issue of fact, all doubts being resolved against the party moving for summary judgment.” Shawmut Worcester County Bank, N.A. v. Miller, 398 Mass. 273, 281 (1986) (quotation omitted). Evidence in the record is considered together with all reasonable inferences to be drawn from the record. Godfrey v. Globe Newspaper Co., 457 Mass. 113, 119 (2010). Background. The nature of the dispute. Vitali was scheduled to work from nine to five, five days per week, with a paid one-hour lunch break. Both sides agree that lunch breaks do not count toward overtime. They also agree that if an employee has to work during what otherwise would be a lunch break, the employee gets no […]