Press Release: 8/6/2026

AG Campbell Secures More Than $800,000 in Citations Against Multiple Staffing Agencies and Hotel Operator for Wage Theft and Other Fair Labor Violations

 

Citations Include Restitution for the Affected Employees and Penalties to the Commonwealth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

8/05/2026

 

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today announced that she has secured $875,234 in citations against four staffing agencies and a client company for failing to comply with various state employment laws pertaining to minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and employee classification. The combined settlements include restitution for approximately 421 affected workers and penalties.

“Every worker in Massachusetts is entitled to be paid the wages they rightfully earn, and when employers violate our labor laws, my office will hold them accountable,” said AG Campbell. “These cases put employers on notice that we will not tolerate exploitative and illegal actions that harm our workforce. I’m grateful to my office’s Fair Labor Division for securing more than $800,000, the majority of which will be returned to workers as restitution.”

The employers who were cited include Brockton-based staffing agency Preferred Staffing, Inc. (Preferred) and its president and treasurer, Martin Rubeo; Andover-based staffing agency The Staffing Group, Inc. (TSG) and its president and treasurer, Thomas Pennace; Peabody-based staffing agency All Star Hospitality, LLC. (All Star) and its manager, David Hazboun; Pennsylvania-based staffing agency SCSS, Inc (SCSS) and its owner Harpal Singh; and Newton-based client company Four Points by Sheraton Boston Newton (d/b/a Gulph Creek Hotels, Inc.) and its president, Amy Gancasz. 

 Massachusetts’ Earned Sick Time Law establishes workers’ right to earn and use up to 40 hours of job-protected sick time per year and requires employers to pay earned sick time at the employee’s regular hourly rate of pay. Massachusetts’ Minimum Wage and Overtime laws set the state’s minimum wage and requires employers to pay that wage to workers for all hours worked, as well as one and one half times their regular hourly rate of pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. In Masschusetts, workers who work for temporary or staffing agencies are protected by the same laws, in addition to specific protections set out in the Temporary Workers Right to Know Law.

In the first matter, involving Preferred and TSG, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) found that both staffing agencies violated both the Earned Sick Time Law and Minimum Wage and Overtime Law by failing to provide their employees with paid sick time on several occasions, and for failing to compensate workers for overtime due to inaccurate transportation deductions, which often resulted in workers being paid below the state minimum wage.  

As a result of its settlement with the AGO, Preferred and TSG will pay a total of $575,578, which includes penalties and restitution to the affected employees.

In a separate matter, the AGO found that Gulph Creek owed wages to several temporary employees hired to perform work at the Four Points by Sheraton Boston Newport through staffing agencies All Star and SCSS. The AGO learned through the investigation that All Star had misclassified approximately 134 workers as independent contractors, resulting in those employees not receiving overtime pay, paid sick time, or notices that are required to be provided to temporary workers in Massachusetts. The AGO also learned that Gulph Creek failed to pay its front desk and maintenance staff the state minimum wage of $15 per hour. 

Gulph Creek has agreed to pay $155,456 in restitution and penalties; All Star will pay $40,200 in penalties for misclassifying employees, failing to accurately track sick time, and failing to provide new assignment or employment notices; and SCSS has been cited $108,000 in penalties for failing to pay the state minimum wage, failure to make timely payment, failure to furnish payroll records to the AGO, failure to provide new assignment or employment notices, and failure to furnish suitable pay slips.  

These matters were handled by Assistant Attorney General Drew Cahill, Supervising Investigator Jennifer Pak, Supervising Investigator Huong Phan, Supervising Investigator Yolanda O’Shea, and Chief of Investigations Heather Rowe, all of the AGO’s Fair Labor Division, which is tasked with enforcing the state’s wage and hour, child labor, and other employment laws.

The AGO is committed to protecting the rights of all workers, including immigrant workers, who are disproportionately vulnerable to illegal employment practices, such as wage theft and other harms. The AGO encourages workers and employers to review the AGO’s Advisory on the Rights of Immigrant Workers, the Advisory affirms that all workers, regardless of their immigration status, are entitled to employment protections, including the right to a fair wage, protection from retaliation, classification as an employee, and freedom from sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. 

In accordance with state and federal law, the AGO works to serve and protect all workers, without regard to immigration status, does not ask about workers’ immigration status, and does not voluntarily provide workers’ personal information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

Workers in Massachusetts who believe their workplace rights have been violated are encouraged to file a complaint with the AGO’s Fair Labor Division at mass.gov/ago/fld. For more information about the state’s employment laws, workers may call the AGO’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465 or visit mass.gov/ago/fairlabor for information available in multiple languages.  

###