Sam Adams Brewer Facing Lawsuit Over $3,000 Noncompete Payouts

Boston Beer Co.’s meager payouts to departing workers it seeks to bind with noncompetes violate Massachusetts law, according to a proposed class action filed by two former employees.

The lawsuit filed Monday against the Sam Adams maker said the $3,000 paid to two employees as they left doesn’t qualify as “mutually-agreed upon consideration” for the company to enforce the restrictive covenants under state law.

The brewer instead should have to comply with an alternative provided under the law: six-months of paid leave, known as garden leave, according to the complaint.

Plaintiffs Hailey Boyd and Grace Murtagh, two Chicago residents ...