Massachusetts Overtime Laws & Wages Attorney

Massachusetts Labor Laws Explained

Below is an overview of the minimum wage and overtime pay laws that apply to workers in the state of Massachusetts. Private actions to enforce Massachusetts wage and hour laws, and recover unpaid overtime due to workers, are commonly brought (on a contingent fee basis) by employment law firms such as The Lore Law Firm. If you believe that you have been deprived of the overtime pay that you are legally entitled to according to Massachusetts overtime law, please contact us for a free and confidential review of your situation.

Minimum Wage

The Department of Labor Standards administers the Commonwealth’s Minimum Fair Wage Law.

The Massachusetts minimum wage rates for most employees:

• 2023 $15.00 per hour – effective January 1st, 2023
• 2022 $14.25 per hour – effective January 1st, 2022
• 2021 $13.50 per hour
• 2020 $12.75 per hour
• 2019 $12.00 per hour

Minimum wage for tipped employees is $6.75 per hour for 2023. Prior rates were $5.55 for 2021, $4.95 for 2020, and $4.35 for 2019.

The current Federal minimum wage rate is $7.25 per hour as of July 24, 2009. Prior to July 24, 2009, the federal rate was $6.55 per hour.

Overtime Regulations

According to Massachusetts overtime law most employees must be paid one and one-half times their regular hourly rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a given work week.
However, overtime rules in Massachusetts do not require overtime after eight hours in a day.

Overtime Pay for Commissioned Sales People

While many employers have never paid overtime or Sunday premium pay to inside commissioned salespeople, the Massachusetts Supreme Court (in May 2019) has ruled Massachusetts State Overtime Law requires employers to pay additional compensation for overtime and Sunday work to commissioned sales employees. This is very different from federal wage and hour laws which provide an overtime exemption for retail sales employees, however, employers must abide by the state wage laws when they are more favorable to workers.
Inside salespersons in all types of businesses are impacted by this ruling, including those working for furniture stores, automobile dealerships and telemarketing firms. It is now clear that under MA labor law they are entitled to receive overtime or Sunday premium pay in addition to their regular pay and commissions or draws (i.e., advances on commissions).
The Massachusetts Supreme Court found that state law clearly prohibits employers from “retroactively reallocat[ing] and credit[ing] payments made to fulfill one set of wage obligations against separate and independent obligations.” and “that the overtime statute requires separate and additional overtime compensation to be provided to a one hundred percent commission employee regardless of whether that employee receives a recoverable draw or commissions that equal or exceed one and one-half times the minimum wage for any hours worked beyond forty.”

Overtime Pay for Computer Employees

While federal law does exempt computer professionals from mandatory overtime compensation, Massachusetts has not specifically adopted this exemption.  So, it is not entirely clear whether such computer programmers (and others covered under federal law) are exempt from the Massachusetts overtime pay requirements.

Overtime Pay for Drivers of Trucks and Other Vehicles

Massachusetts state law regarding overtime pay for truck drivers and others who operate large vehicles is different from the federal law. Only drivers (or helpers) on “trucks” are exempt from overtime pay under the state version of the Motor Carrier Act. This means that drivers of the following types of vehicles are likely entitled to receive overtime pay in Massachusetts – five passenger sedans, five passenger sport utility vehicles, “mini-vans”, limousines, sport utility limousines, eight passenger carrier vans, minibuses, or buses…as “[e]ach of them is designed to carry passengers and not goods, and none hauls a trailer.”

Overtime Pay for Agriculture and Farming Employees

The overtime exemption for “agriculture and farming” in Massachusetts includes “only the work of planting, raising, and harvesting crops”. A 2019 case found that employees who “cleaned, inspected, sorted, weighed, and packaged… bean sprouts” should have been paid overtime for work in excess of 40 hours per week.  It is now clear that agricultural workers engaged in “post harvesting activities” in Massachusetts have a valid claim to recover back wages if they have not been paid overtime rates for their overtime hours worked.

Overtime Exemptions

Some types of employees are exempt from the overtime regulations under overtime rules in Massachusetts – meaning they are not required to be paid overtime. Exempt employees include executives, professionals, and some seasonal workers. The following is a list of employees who are exempt from overtime under overtime rules in Massachusetts:

1. a janitor or caretaker of residential property, who when furnished with living quarters is paid a wage of not less than thirty dollars per week.
2. a golf caddy, newsboy or child actor or performer.
3. a bona fide executive, or administrative or professional person or qualified trainee for such position earning more than eighty dollars per week.
4. an outside salesman or outside buyer.
5. a learner, apprentice or handicapped person under a special license as provided in section nine.
6. a fisherman or as a person employed in the catching or taking of any kind of fish, shellfish or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life.
7. a switchboard operator in a public telephone exchange.
8. a driver or helper on a truck with respect to whom the Interstate Commerce Commission has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred and four of the motor carrier act of nineteen hundred and thirty-five, or as employee of an employer subject to the provisions of Part 1 of the Interstate Commerce Act or subject to title II of the Railway Labor Act.
9. a janitor or caretaker of residential property, who when furnished with living quarters is paid a wage of not less than thirty dollars per week.
10. a golf caddy, newsboy or child actor or performer.
11. a bona fide executive, or administrative or professional person or qualified trainee for such position earning more than eighty dollars per week.
12. an outside salesman or outside buyer.
13. a learner, apprentice or handicapped person under a special license as provided in section nine.
14. a fisherman or as a person employed in the catching or taking of any kind of fish, shellfish or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life.
15. a switchboard operator in a public telephone exchange.
16. a driver or helper on a truck [see above regarding definition of a “truck”] with respect to whom the Interstate Commerce Commission has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred and four of the motor carrier act of nineteen hundred and thirty-five, or as employee of an employer subject to the provisions of Part 1 of the Interstate Commerce Act or subject to title II of the Railway Labor Act.
17. employed in a business or specified operation of a business which is carried on during a period or accumulated periods not in excess of one hundred and twenty days in any year, and determined by the commissioner to be seasonal in nature.
18. a seaman.
19. employed by an employer licensed and regulated pursuant to chapter one hundred and fifty-nine A.
20. employed in a hotel, motel, motor court or like establishment.
21. employed in a gasoline station.
22. employed in a restaurant.
23. employed as a garageman, which term shall not include a parking lot attendant.
24. employed in a hospital, sanitorium, convalescent or nursing home, infirmary, rest home or charitable home for the aged.
25. employed in a non-profit school or college.
26. employed in a summer camp operated by a non-profit charitable corporation.
27. employed as a laborer engaged in agriculture and farming on a farm.
28. employed in an amusement park containing a permanent aggregation of amusement devices, games, shows, and other attractions operated during a period or accumulated periods not in excess of one hundred and fifty days in any one year.

Even if an employee is exempt from overtime under state law, federal law may still entitle them to overtime compensation.
If an employee is non-exempt, meaning an employee who is required to be paid overtime, the employer may not give compensatory time (comp time) instead of paying overtime.

Independent Contractors Under Massachusetts Law

The state of Massachusetts applies the following ABC (3-part) test to determine which workers can be legally classified as an independent contractor instead of an employee, who has the right to minimum wage, overtime, and other protections.
An employer in Massachusetts who wants to treat someone as an independent contractor rather than an employee is legally required to show that the work:

1. is done without the direction and control of the employer; and
2. is performed outside the usual course of the employer’s business; and
3. is done by someone who has their own, independent business or trade doing that kind of work.

M.G.L. c. 149, s. 148B – the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law or the Massachusetts Misclassification Law
As stated in the Advisory from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division:

The need for proper classification of individuals in the workplace is of paramount importance to the Commonwealth. Entities that misclassify individuals are in many cases committing insurance fraud and deprive individuals of the many protections and benefits, both public and private, that employees enjoy. 

…[b]usinesses that properly classify employees and follow all of the relevant statutes regarding employment are likely to be at a distinct competitive disadvantage when vying for the same work, customers or contracts as those businesses that do not play by the rules. Further, by paying the proper taxes and insurance premiums, businesses following the Law are, in effect, subsidizing those businesses that do not. Misclassification undermines fair market competition and negatively impacts the business environment…

Statute of Limitations

Under Massachusetts state law, a claim for unpaid overtime wages has a 3 year statute of limitations – meaning unpaid overtime wages may be recovered for a 3-year period prior to the filing of a lawsuit. That’s why it’s very important to seek legal help if you feel your rights have been violated under Massachusetts overtime law.

Remedies & Penalties

In July 2008, The Massachusetts Act to Clarify the Law Protecting Employee Compensation went into effect, mandating treble (triple) damages in wage cases. In addition to treble damages, a successful plaintiff can recover costs and attorney’s fees in overtime pay, minimum wage, vacation pay, pay to independent contractors, prompt payment of wages for current and terminated employees, Sunday/ holiday pay under Massachusetts “Blue Laws,” and tip pooling claims.

Class Actions

Overtime and wage claims may be brought as a class action under Massachusetts state law.

The employees who bring the class action lawsuit as class representatives are usually awarded extra compensation in addition to their individual recovery as a form of “incentive pay.”

Holidays & Vacation Pay

Massachusetts Holiday Pay

The Massachusetts Minimum Fair Wage Law does not require employers to pay a premium for weekend, holiday, or night work. The Massachusetts Blue Laws, however, do require some retailers that employ more than 7 people to pay premium pay (not less than one and one-half times their regular rate) for Sundays and certain holidays.  However, in June 2018, a new law was signed that will phase out this premium pay over the period from 2019 to 2023.

Holiday pay for a day when an employee does not work is not included in the 40 hours for purposes of overtime calculation. Only those hours actually worked on a holiday are counted for overtime pay purposes, meaning – holiday hours which are paid for but not worked are not counted as hours worked in determining whether overtime pay is due in that workweek.

Massachusetts Vacation Pay

The Massachusetts Minimum Fair Wage Law does not require employers to provide employees with paid vacation time. However, if an employer does offer a vacation plan, earned vacation pay may be considered wages due an employee at termination.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court has recently held that an employer must pay a terminated employee for all earned but unused vacation time. Accrued unused vacation time is considered earned wages and must be paid upon termination. While the recent opinion did not address the situation where an employee voluntarily quits, there is some authority stating that it does not matter whether the employee quits or is fired.

Reporting Pay

When an employee who is scheduled to work three or more hours reports for duty at the time set by the employer, and that employee is not provided with the expected hours of work, the employee must be paid for at least three hours at no less than the basic minimum wage. This provision does not apply to charitable organizations under the Internal Revenue Code.

Pay Periods

Massachusetts law specifies when employees must be paid.

Under Massachusetts law, all non-exempt employees must be paid weekly or bi-weekly (every 2 weeks) and within 6 days of the end of the pay period during which wages were earned. Semi-monthly (twice per month) pay periods do not comply with this requirement as such is paid less frequently than every 2 weeks and does not pay wages due within 6 days of the end of a pay period.

Meal / Rest Breaks

Employees who work more than 6 hours during a calendar day must be given a meal break of at least 30 minutes.  For more information, see this page.

Deductions

Deductions & Overtime Calculation

When deductions are made from an employee’s wages for meals, lodging, or uniforms, the employee’s regular hourly rate before any deductions are made should be used to calculate the employee’s overtime compensation.

Deductions for Meals

The maximum deduction for meals per day are:

• Breakfast, $1.50
• Lunch, $2.25
• Dinner, $2.25

No deduction for meals may exceed the actual cost to the employer.

1. No deduction for meals is permitted without the written consent of the employee.
2. A deduction for one meal may be made from the basic minimum wage of an employee working three hours or more.
3. A deduction for two meals may be made from the basic minimum wage of an employee whose work entirely covers two meal periods, or eight hours of work.
4. A deduction for three meals may be made from the basic minimum wage of an employee if lodging is provided, or if special permission is granted.

Deductions for Uniforms

If uniforms require dry-cleaning, commercial laundering, or other special treatment, the employer must reimburse the employee for the actual costs of such service to the extent that these costs reduce the employee’s hourly rate below the basic minimum wage.

Where uniforms are made of “wash and wear” materials, that do not require special treatment, and that are routinely washed and dried with other personal garments, the employer is not required to reimburse the employee for uniform maintenance costs.

An Employer may not require a deposit from an employee for a uniform or for any other purpose unless special permission is granted.