Brigitte Duffy Quoted in The Boston Globe
"School Job Means Summers Off, But No Unemployment"

Brigitte Duffy was quoted in the home/business Q&A column of The Boston Globe on September 21, 2008. The letter writer, an hourly employee at a private school whose pay is prorated in order to receive pay at equal intervals throughout the year, wanted to know if they should be paid for the hours worked during the nine-month school year. The writer also wanted to know if they would be eligible to collect unemployment for the three months of the year that they do not work.

Brigitte answered, "While Massachusetts law governing the timely payment of wages generally requires employers to pay wages earned within six days of the end of the pay period in which the wages were earned, according to the Massachusetts attorney general's office, it is permissible for a school to pay its employees over 12 months rather than the nine or 10 months that they work, as long as the employees are receiving minimum wage or more and the payments are timely (that is, within six days of the end of the pay period)." In response to letter writer's eligibility to collect unemployment, Brigette noted, "The statute governing eligibility for unemployment specifically provides that employees of schools and education institutions are not eligible to receive unemployment benefits when they are out of work between academic years or terms, even if they do not receive pay over the break." She further noted, "While the rules vary slightly depending on the type of work performed by the individuals, in general, if the employee has a contract of employment or a 'reasonable assurance' of employment that is substantially the same or better in the next term or year, then the employee will not qualify for unemployment benefits. If a person is not hired for the next academic year or term, he or she may qualify for retroactive unemployment benefits."