SJC Holds That Retention Bonuses Do Not Constitute ‘Wages’ Under the Massachusetts Wage Act
Last year, the Appellate Division of the Massachusetts District Court held in Nunez v. Syncsort Incorporated —a decision that we addressed in an article published on October 28, 2024—that retention bonuses do not constitute “wages” within the meaning of the Massachusetts Wage Act. On October 22, 2025, in a significant win for employers, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a decision affirming the Appellate Division’s holding, thus confirming that retention bonuses are not subject to the Wage Act and its penalty provisions requiring treble damages and attorneys’ fees for violations. Quick Hits On October 22, 2025, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court concluded that a retention bonus is not a “wage” for purposes of the Massachusetts Wage Act, and that such bonuses are instead a form of additional, contingent compensation outside the ambit of the Wage Act. The court reasoned that the purpose of a retention agreement is to benefit the empl...