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Three longtime clerical employees of the Sudbury Public Schools, two current and one retired, have filed a civil lawsuit against the Town of Sudbury–Sudbury Public Schools and Donald Sawyer, the district’s Director of Business and Human Resources. The suit alleges repeated violations of the Massachusetts Wage Act.
The complaint was filed October 21, 2026, in Middlesex Superior Court (case no. 2681CV02826). It claims the district routinely paid clerical staff their wages as much as 11 days after the end of a pay period. The plaintiffs cite the state Wage Act, which they say requires employers to pay earned wages within six days of the end of a pay period. The plaintiffs do not allege that their wages went unpaid, only that they were paid late.
On the case’s civil cover sheet, the plaintiffs estimate their combined damages at $800,000. That figure covers alleged violations between October 2023 and September 2026, before any tripling of damages.
The plaintiffs are Jean Galligan Pallone, Marcy Sawin and Nancy Carbutt. They allege the late payments happened consistently throughout that period.
The lawsuit focuses in particular on the start of each school year. According to the complaint, the district required clerical staff to begin work 10 days before teachers returned from summer vacation each August. It did not set up a separate payroll for those days. Instead, the plaintiffs allege, the district held their pay for that period until the first regular paycheck of the school year. They say the district then kept paying them late on every paycheck that followed.
According to the complaint, Pallone raised the matter of late payments with the School Committee, Sawyer and other district representatives around May 2025. The suit alleges the district disregarded her concerns and continued paying clerical staff late until about September 2026. The plaintiffs made a formal pre-litigation demand in May 2026. The complaint says the district made no offer to remedy the alleged violations.
The plaintiffs have requested a jury trial. They are asking the court for treble (triple) damages, which they say the statute makes mandatory, along with attorneys’ fees, litigation costs and interest.
MassCourts.org does not contain any response from the defendants as of October 23, and the complaint contents are allegations until proven. SPS School Committee Chair Jessica McCready offered a brief statement: “The Committee has not been served with any lawsuit and has no comment at this time.” Interim Superintendent Annette Doyle noted “SPS has not been served with any lawsuit and has no comment at this time.”
The records are embedded below.
Here’s the complaint filed Oct. 21 in Middlesex Superior Court. Note that these are the plaintiffs’ allegations: