Wayfair, the online furniture retailer, is best known in legal circles as the defendant in the 2018 Supreme Court sales tax case that changed how states tax online sales, but Wayfair lawsuits also include a landmark employee retaliation verdict, a pending wage-and-hour collective action, and consumer class actions over pricing and marketing texts. Each case sits in a different area of law, so the practical takeaway depends on which one brought you here.
The Supreme Court Sales Tax Case
South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. was decided on June 21, 2018. By a 5–4 vote, the Court threw out the long-standing rule that a state could only require a business to collect sales tax if it had a physical presence there. That rule came from National Bellas Hess (1967) and Quill Corp. v. North Dakota (1992), and it left states unable to collect tax on billions of dollars of online purchases. South Dakota estimated it was losing about $58 million a year.1Numeral. South Dakota v. Wayfair
To force the issue, South Dakota passed a 2016 law requiring out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax if they had more than $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions in the state, then sued Wayfair, Overstock, and Newegg.2Oyez. South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, called the physical-presence rule “unsound and incorrect” and held that a “substantial nexus” based on significant economic activity in a state is enough to trigger a collection obligation.3Supreme Court of the United States. South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., 585 U.S. ___ (2018)
Chief Justice John Roberts dissented, joined by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan. The dissenters agreed the older rule was wrongly decided but argued Congress, not the Court, should have been the one to fix it. Roberts warned the majority underestimated the compliance burden on small sellers, who would now have to work through the tax rules of more than 10,000 jurisdictions.4Harvard Law Review. South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc.
What Changed for Sellers
Every state that charges a sales tax has now passed an economic-nexus law, and all of them extend the requirement to marketplace facilitators like Amazon and Etsy. Thresholds vary: most states use South Dakota’s $100,000 line, but Texas sets its threshold at $500,000, and a growing number of states have dropped the separate transaction-count trigger.5The Tax Adviser. South Dakota v. Wayfair Five Years Later
The reach of the ruling has stretched beyond sales tax. California, Massachusetts, and New York now assert income tax nexus based on revenue thresholds, and other states apply the same thinking to franchise and gross receipts taxes.6The CPA Journal. How Wayfair’s Economic Nexus Has Redefined Business Tax Obligations If you sell online into multiple states, you can end up with filing obligations in places where you have no employees, no office, and no warehouse.
Boyle v. Wayfair: A Landmark Retaliation Verdict
On April 27, 2026, a Suffolk Superior Court jury awarded former Wayfair senior manager Mary Boyle $4.75 million in what is reported as the first Massachusetts jury verdict recognizing a retaliation claim under the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Act.7Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Massachusetts PFMLA Retaliation Verdict Wayfair $4.6M
Boyle joined Wayfair in April 2019. She took federal FMLA leave starting in October 2020, transitioned to PFMLA leave through June 2021, was put on a performance improvement plan after returning, and was fired on August 10, 2021. She alleged the firing was retaliation for taking protected leave and for complaining internally about age discrimination. The jury agreed on both retaliation theories but rejected the underlying age discrimination claim. A former subordinate testified that a manager described Boyle as “faking health issues to be out on FMLA to avoid being fired.”7Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Massachusetts PFMLA Retaliation Verdict Wayfair $4.6M
The award included $4 million in punitive damages under Massachusetts’s anti-discrimination statute Chapter 151B, $600,000 for emotional distress, and more than $75,000 in back pay. The case matters because of how the PFMLA allocates the burden of proof: any adverse change to pay, status, or employment terms within six months of a return from PFMLA leave is presumed retaliatory, and the employer must rebut that presumption with “clear and convincing evidence” that the action would have happened anyway. That is a higher standard than the federal FMLA imposes. Wayfair argued Boyle was fired for performance reasons; the jury was not persuaded, and her counsel expected Wayfair to challenge the punitive damages award.7Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Massachusetts PFMLA Retaliation Verdict Wayfair $4.6M
Forsythe: A Revived Retaliation Claim
In Forsythe v. Wayfair Inc., a former employee alleged sexual harassment by a coworker, gender-based disparate treatment, and retaliation for reporting the harassment. The First Circuit affirmed dismissal of the harassment claim, finding Wayfair had investigated and was not negligent. But the appeals court revived the retaliation claims, holding that a reasonable juror could find Wayfair’s explanation for the firing (that it read her request for a severance package as a resignation) “so implausible” as to be pretextual. The tight timing between her complaints in August and September 2019 and her termination on September 23, 2019 supported the retaliation theory.8FindLaw. Forsythe v. Wayfair Inc.
Counts v. Wayfair: Unpaid Pre-Shift Work
Counts v. Wayfair LLC was filed in July 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. It is a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action alleging that remote customer service representatives spend 10 to 15 minutes logging into computer programs before their shifts but are told not to clock that time.9Top Class Actions. Wayfair Class Action Alleges Company Fails to Pay for Pre-Post Shift Activities The court conditionally certified the case as a collective action in August 2024 and ordered Wayfair to produce contact information for potential class members. As of June 2026 the case remains in discovery.10CourtListener. Counts v. Wayfair LLC
Consumer Class Actions
Deceptive Pricing
Prakash v. Wayfair LLC, filed in January 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleges that Wayfair advertises products with strikethrough “original” prices that are not real, making everyday prices look like sale prices. The complaint brings claims under California’s False Advertising Law, Consumers Legal Remedies Act, and Unfair Competition Law. As of mid-2026 the case is at the class certification stage.11Top Class Actions. Wayfair Class Action Alleges Company Misleads Consumers About Sale Prices
A separate consumer class action in Quebec over pricing errors and unilateral order cancellations was authorized and settled in 2017, with class members receiving store credit ranging from roughly $543 to $3,038 depending on the sub-class.12LPC Lex. Wayfair
Unsolicited Marketing Texts
Stricker v. Wayfair LLC was filed in March 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. It alleges Wayfair sent unsolicited marketing texts and failed to honor opt-out requests in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which provides for statutory damages of $500 per negligent violation and $1,500 per willful violation.13Top Class Actions. Wayfair Class Action Alleges Retailer Sends Unsolicited Text Messages
FTC “Made in USA” Inquiry
The Federal Trade Commission investigated Wayfair’s “Made in USA” advertising claims under Matter Number P074204. The agency closed the matter without enforcement action, issuing a closing letter to Wayfair’s general counsel on May 9, 2016.14Federal Trade Commission. Wayfair LLC
The 2020 Trafficking Conspiracy Was Not a Lawsuit
If you arrived here because of the July 2020 online claims that Wayfair was trafficking children through overpriced storage cabinets, no lawsuit came out of that. The claims originated in a QAnon-affiliated social media post, spread rapidly (about 1.2 million tweets in 72 hours), and were investigated and rejected. The Department of Homeland Security paused active investigations to look into the allegations and found no supporting evidence; the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Polaris, which operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline, both confirmed the reports were unfounded, and most of the children named in viral posts had already been recovered or had never been missing.15The Washington Post. Wayfair QAnon Sex Trafficking Conspiracy Wayfair said the cabinets were industrial-size products with algorithm-generated names, temporarily pulled the items to rename them, and later hired armed security for its fulfillment centers after receiving threats.16BBC. Wayfair Child Trafficking Conspiracy Theory