A Boston-area Dunkin' franchise operator and two staffing agencies it hired to run day-to-day operations must pay a combined $1.46 million after Massachusetts regulators determined the companies misclassified workers and routinely failed to pay them on time. The fines target Northern Management Group LLC, which runs more than 20 Dunkin' locations in eastern Massachusetts, along with staffing firms D and J Services Group LLC and Prime Management Services Corp.
According to The Boston Globe, the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office found that Northern Management Group contracted with the two staffing firms to fill core roles inside its Dunkin' stores, including store managers, shift leaders, coffee makers, and bakers. Those workers were classified as temporary employees or independent contractors, a designation regulators say deprived them of standard employment protections. Northern Management Group began contracting with the two staffing firms in 2023, per the Globe's reporting.
Why Regulators Called the Setup a Joint-Employer Scheme
The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office determined that Northern Management Group, D and J Services Group, and Prime Management Services Corp. acted as joint employers because the temporary agency workers performed core Dunkin' duties under Northern Management Group's direct direction and control, according to the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. That joint-employer finding is what allowed the state to hold both the franchise operator and the staffing agencies accountable at once, rather than letting the arrangement's layered structure shield any single party from liability.
Under the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law, M.G.L. c. 149, § 148B, workers are legally presumed to be employees unless an employer can prove all three prongs of a strict “ABC test” — showing the worker is free from control, performs work outside the employer's usual course of business, and operates an independent trade, per Nutter. State citations against the staffing agencies also enforced the Massachusetts Temporary Workers Right to Know Act, M.G.L. c. 149, § 159C, which requires temporary staffing firms to give workers written notice of job details, pay rates, and schedules before an assignment begins.
Unpaid Travel Time and Late Paychecks
Between August 2023 and August 2025, the collective employers routinely failed to pay earned wages on time, missing the state-mandated six-day window after a pay period ends, officials said, according to the Globe. Workers also were not paid for travel time between Dunkin' locations, and Campbell's office found that unpaid travel time violated state law. Nilesh Patel, Nikul Patel, and Jigar Patel, described as top executives of Northern Management Group, will pay the fines alongside the company itself, while D and J Services Group, Prime Management Services Corp., and staffing company manager Daylon Oliveira are also on the hook for penalties.
The money is intended to fund restitution payments to 100 affected workers as well as payments to state coffers, the Globe reported. “Workers deserve timely paychecks and the protections afforded to them under state law,” Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said. Her office added that it will continue to ensure employers comply with wage and labor laws.
Immigrant Workers Seen as Especially Vulnerable
In announcing the citations Thursday, Campbell's office emphasized that immigrant workers are disproportionately vulnerable to wage theft and misclassification, and reaffirmed that state workplace protections apply regardless of immigration status, per the Attorney General's Office. Under the Massachusetts Wage Act, M.G.L. c. 149, § 148, employers who fail to pay earned wages within six days of a pay period's end can face mandatory treble damages and attorney fees in private civil lawsuits — a financial exposure that goes well beyond administrative fines like the one levied against Northern Management Group.
Research published by labor sociologists in 2025 suggests that state wage theft enforcement depends heavily on workers filing direct complaints, which creates systemic reporting gaps among low-wage employees who fear retaliation or lack legal knowledge, according to The Shoestring. That dynamic helps explain why joint staffing arrangements like the one at Northern Management Group can persist for years before a formal state investigation uncovers them.
Part of a Broader Pattern at Massachusetts Dunkin' Franchises
This is far from the first time Massachusetts regulators have targeted Dunkin' franchise operators. In November 2023, Massachusetts Dunkin' franchisees running more than two dozen locations agreed to pay $1 million to settle Attorney General claims over child labor violations and missed meal breaks, as Hoodline previously reported on child labor issues plaguing the chain's franchise network. In April 2025, Campbell's office cited Methuen-based Cafua Management Co., which operates nearly 80 Dunkin' locations statewide, assessing $140,000 in penalties as part of a larger $226,385 multi-brand settlement for child labor and wage law breaches, according to the Worcester Business Journal.
Hampden County Dunkin' franchise entities Agawam Donuts and Springfield Donuts Inc. were assessed $1.6 million in fines by the Attorney General in June 2024 for wage payment and youth supervision violations, The Shoestring reported. A March 2022 decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Dhananjay Patel v. 7-Eleven, Inc. established that state wage and worker-classification statutes apply to franchise arrangements, preventing companies from using franchise structures to sidestep employment obligations, per Fisher Phillips. Together, the cases show a continuous, multi-year push by the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division to hold major fast-food franchise management companies accountable for systemic wage and worker-protection failures.
