Amid Sale for $1.34B, Herbert G. Chambers and The Herb Chambers Companies Still Face Class Action Lawsuits for Their Alleged Failures to Properly Pay Their Employees
Boston, MA – Local business icon, Herbert G. Chambers, fresh on the heels of announcing the sale of The Herb Chambers Companies and nearly all of its dealerships in New England for a whopping $1.34B last week, continues to be embroiled in class action lawsuits defending against allegations that Mr. Chambers and The Herb Chambers Companies failed to pay hundreds of their employees who worked at any of The Herb Chambers Companies’ dealerships in Massachusetts thousands of dollars in overtime and premium wages. Richardson & Cumbo, LLP, a leading labor and employment law firm in Massachusetts dedicated to protecting workers’ rights, brought one of these class action lawsuits on behalf of finance managers who allege they routinely worked anywhere from forty to sixty hours per week, on Sundays and certain holidays, but were not paid overtime and/or premium wages by Mr. Chambers and The Herb Chambers Companies as required by the Massachusetts Wage Act, Overtime laws, and Blue Laws.
According to publicly available documents filed in Middlesex County Superior Court and Attorney Robert Richardson of Richardson & Cumbo, LLP, Mr. Chambers and The Herb Chambers Companies have maintained throughout the lawsuit that they are not an employer of the class members, and thus neither Mr. Chambers nor The Herb Chambers Companies were required to pay the class members the wages they are owed. According to Attorney Richardson, “the legal argument defendants have made, if successful, could allow them to side-step liability to putative class members and avoid paying overtime and Blue Laws wages to anyone other than the named plaintiffs in these lawsuits—potentially only one or two employees—allowing them to not pay overtime and Blue Laws wages to potentially hundreds of employees even though those employees worked overtime hours and Blue Law hours, a truly inequitable result.”
The plaintiff in Richardson & Cumbo, LLP’s class action lawsuit, however, contends that the recent $1.34B sale of essentially all of Mr. Chambers and The Herb Chambers Companies’ dealerships, “common sense,” and other evidence—including social media, advertisements, and press articles touting a workforce of over 2,000 employees across their large number of car dealerships—strongly supports the plaintiff’s position that Mr. Chambers and The Herb Chambers Companies are, in fact, an employer of plaintiff and the puetative class members. Moreover, according publicly available court documents filed in Suffolk County Superior Court, Mr. Chambers and The Herb Chambers Companies settled a class action lawsuit in 2019 that was brought on behalf of all sales associates who worked at any of The Herb Chambers Companies’ dealerships in Massachusetts. Further, Attorney Richardson explains that a recent Superior Court decision also held that The Herb Chambers Companies was an employer of a service advisor employee who worked at one of The Herb Chambers Companies’ dealerships—a decision affirmed by the Massachusetts Appeals Court and which the Supreme Judicial Court declined to review or overturn.
“Any New Englander who has browsed the internet, watched a television, listened to a radio, or read the paper knows who Mr. Chambers and The Herb Chambers Companies are and that Mr. Chambers and The Herb Chambers Companies own and/or manage a very large number of dealerships in Massachusetts. To suggest that neither Mr. Chambers nor The Herb Chambers Companies are an employer of the putative class members in our lawsuit is simply disingenuous from plaintiff’s viewpoint,” Attorney Richardson stated. He continued, “ask yourself, how can Mr. Chambers sell The Herb Chambers Companies and his dealerships for $1.34B and then argue that the employees who worked long hours and helped drive the value of his companies north of a billion dollars are not employees of Mr. Chambers and The Herb Chambers Companies? We, and our client, believe Mr. Chambers, who is a great philanthropist and who has been a pillar of this community for decades, will do the right thing and pay the plaintiff and the putative class members in this Lawsuit the wages they allege are owed to them—these are wages these people earned and they need these wages to support themselves their families.”
If you or someone you know believes they have been denied rightful wages, please contact the attorneys at Richardson & Cumbo, LLP. Richardson & Cumbo, LLP is offering a free, no-obligation consultation to help determine if you are entitled to wages you should have been paid.
Email us at: info@rc-llp.com
About Richardson & Cumbo, LLP
Richardson & Cumbo, LLP is a premier law firm in Massachusetts with a longstanding commitment to advocating for workers’ rights and ensuring that employers are held accountable for labor and employment law violations. With extensive experience in class action litigation, Richardson & Cumbo, LLP has secured significant recoveries for employees across Massachusetts.
For additional information or media inquiries, please contact Don Martelli at (617) 413-6773 or via email at don@prbunker.com.
