Krista Green Pratt Quoted in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
“Employment Lawyers Seek Clarity On Issues of Retroactive Treble Damages”

Krista Green Pratt was quoted on May 11, 2009 in the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly article, “Employment Lawyers Seek Clarity on Issues of Retroactive Treble Damages.” The article discussed the mandatory treble damages bill passed last year and whether or not it should be applied retroactively. Currently, there is no definitive answer. Krista suggested that the issue would benefit from appellate review. She noted, “Any time you have a statute passed, the idea is you put the litigant on notice going forward of what the potential penalties are. That simply hasn’t happened here. When you’re talking about retroactivity, you’re talking about a hardship on employers who might not have otherwise known what the legal requirements were. To hold otherwise is just simply unfair.” According to the article, the way the statute is written is unclear and thus open to interpretation. As a result, several cases were noted where judges at both the state and federal level differed on their rulings regarding retroactivity. Krista concluded, “The Legislature’s silence on the matter coupled with conflicting lower court authority requires a ruling in favor of employers. You need to have some basis for asserting retroactivity.”