- Office of the Attorney General
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Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary
Boston — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today announced that her office has secured $1.46 million in citations against Dunkin’ franchise operator Northern Management Group LLC (NMG); NMG’s managers Jigar Patel, Nikul Patel, and Nilesh Patel; staffing agencies D and J Services Group LLC (D&J) and Prime Management Services Corp. (Prime); and D&J and Prime’s manager Daylon Oliveira for failing to comply with various state employment laws pertaining to employee classification, timely wage payments, and proper notice of new assignments to temporary employees.
Pursuant to the citations, the employers have been ordered to pay restitution to 100 employees and penalties to the Commonwealth.
“Workers deserve timely paychecks and the protections afforded to them under state law. Anything less is unacceptable,” said AG Campbell. “My office is dedicated to protecting all workers across the Commonwealth, and we will continue to ensure employers comply with our wage and labor laws.”
NMG operates more than 20 Dunkin’ franchises in Eastern Massachusetts. According to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), in 2023, NMG began contracting with D&J and later Prime to hire workers, labeled as independent contractors, to fill primary staffing roles, such as store managers, shift managers/leader, coffee makers, and bakers, at various NMG-operated Dunkin’ franchise stores. The AGO found that by classifying employees as independent contractors when they worked under the direction and control of NMG and performed core Dunkin’ services, D&J, Prime, and NMG acted as joint employers to misclassify the workers in violation of the Massachusetts’ wage and hour laws, denying them access to employment protections.
Massachusetts law also requires all employers to pay employee wages either weekly or bi-weekly, within six days of the end of the pay period. The AGO found that between August 2023 and August 2025, the collective employers violated this law and routinely failed to pay earned wages to employees within the mandated six-day time frame. The AGO also found that employees were often not paid for travel between the Dunkin’ franchise locations, in violation of state wage and hour laws.
Additionally, staffing agencies like Prime and D&J are subject to the Temporary Workers Right to Know Law and required to furnish their workers with job orders upon placement. Despite the AGO’s payroll demand specifically requesting copies of these job orders, no such records were ever produced by Prime or D&J, constituting a violation of state law.
This matter was handled by Deputy Division Chief Justin Polk and Senior Investigator Christina Proietti 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.
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