麥小瓊將出任AG辦公室公平勞工組組長

麥小瓊（左起）將出任公平勞工組組長，麻州總檢察官奚莉，華人前進會
名譽主席李素影，華人前進會共同主席陳玉珍（右三），
駱理德（右二）等人道喜。（圖由華人前進會提供）

(Boston Orange) 麻州總檢察官奚莉（Maura Healy）昨（7）日在大波士頓勞工協會的勞工節早餐會中宣佈，麥小瓊（Cindy Mak）將出任該辦公室公平勞工組（Fair Labor Division）組長。

麥小瓊將是麻州總檢察長辦公室內首名出任該職的華人。

麻州總檢察長辦公室麾下，設有犯罪，能源及環境，行政，政府，醫療護理及公平競爭，公共保護及支持，以及區域辦公室的七個局處。

公平勞工組是公共保護及支持局裏的4個小組之一。其他3個小組為消費者保護，保險及金融服務，民權。

公平勞工組的主要職責是保護麻州的工人及雇主，執行麻州的工資及時薪法，包括現行工資，最低工資，付給薪資，逾時工作，共享小費，兒童勞工，週日及假日的額外給付等。

該小組有權就違反刑事及民權法的侵犯勞工權益行為，進行調查，並執行法令，藉以保護員工不受僱主剝削，並起訴那些不遵守麻州工資及時新法的雇主。

麻州總檢察官辦公室在網站上指出，過去數年來，該小組在最高法院打贏數樁案件，為員工爭取到共約二千萬元的賠償款。

麥小瓊在華埠勞工界已是知名人士，在大波士頓法律事務援助處工作已廿年，最近這十年擔任外展組主管，協助華埠移民勞工處理過許多加班費拿不到，雇主未付給最低薪資等案件，其中包括2012年的88超市案。

在麻州新貝福市（New Bedford）出生，畢業於塔芙茨大學，獲有東北大學法學院學位，能說廣東話的麥小瓊，父母都是廣東人後代。她表示，一旦上任新職，盼能充分應用以往經驗，保護全麻州工人，尤其是新移民的勞工權益。

ON LABOR DAY, AG HEALEY ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP FOR THE OFFICE’S FAIR LABOR DIVISION

BOSTON – With a focus on strengthening worker protections across Massachusetts, Attorney General Maura Healey today announced new leadership for the office’s Fair Labor Division.

AG Healey has named Cynthia Mark as Chief of the Fair Labor Division, and Lauren Goldman as Deputy Chief.

“Our job is to make sure that workers across Massachusetts are protected. People who work hard should be able to provide for themselves and their families,” said AG Healey. “Cynthia and Lauren bring years of experience and a deep well of talent to the AG’s Office and I am excited to have them on board.”

Cynthia Mark will serve as Chief of the Fair Labor Division. Prior to her appointment, she worked for the last 10 years as the managing attorney of the Asian Outreach Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services, representing Asian immigrant clients with multiple barriers to accessing the legal system.

Mark has devoted her professional life to advocating for the rights of low-wage immigrant workers and has successfully litigated complex employment cases under the Massachusetts Wage Act and Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2014, Mark was honored as a recipient of the Top Women in Law award by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. She currently serves as a board member of Justice at Work, a non-profit that provides legal support to immigrant workers, and is a trustee with the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund. A graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, Mark is a resident of Cambridge.

Lauren Goldman will serve as Deputy Division Chief of the Fair Labor Division. Goldman previously worked under Attorney General Martha Coakley as an Assistant Attorney General in the Fair Labor Division until 2012.

Since then, Goldman has served as chief of staff and policy advisor for the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance, advising the Director on policy, human resources, and labor relations issues for the agency. As chief of staff she also managed more than 700 staff members for the agency’s five regional offices.

During Goldman’s time at the AG’s Office, she enforced the state’s wage and hour laws, prevailing wage and child labor laws, and investigated cases for both criminal prosecution and civil enforcement action against employers who violated the rights of their workers.

Goldman is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School and Syracuse University. She resides in Cambridge.

Together, Mark and Goldman will oversee the Fair Labor Division’s enforcement of Massachusetts laws that protect workers including the payment of prevailing wage, minimum wage, and public construction bid laws, as well as the state’s new Earned Sick Time Law and Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.

The Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division has broad powers to investigate and enforce violations of these laws through criminal prosecutions and civil enforcement actions. The division uses this authority to protect employees from exploitation by employers, prosecute employers who are failing to follow the Commonwealth’s wage and hour laws, and set a level playing field with clear rules that employers can follow, ensuring that strong economic growth and fairness for workers go hand-in-hand.