Massachusetts SJC Rules That Employers May Hold Employees Liable for Violating Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Law
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
On April 9, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that an employee may be liable to his or her employer under the Commonwealth’s unfair and deceptive trade practices statute—which authorizes an award of double or treble damages for willful violations, as well as costs and attorneys’ fees—for actions that the employee engaged in during the course of his or her employment. In
et al., No. SJC-12948, the Commonwealth’s highest court reversed a trial court’s determination that a jury could not consider actions that the defendant-employees had undertaken during their employment with the plaintiff in evaluating whether they had committed unfair or deceptive trade practices in violation of the statute by misappropriating their former employer’s research and administrative files. The decision provides employers with a significant additional deterrent to, and remedy for, their employees’ theft of proprietary information and materials.