The current minimum wage in Massachusetts is $13.50.
The rate will increase as follows over the next several years:
January 1, 2022: $14.25
January 1, 2023: $15.00
State law requires the minimum wage to be at least 50 cents higher than the federal minimum wage.
The current minimum wage for tipped employees is $4.35.
The rate will increase as follows over the next several years:
January 1, 2020: $4.95
January 1, 2021: $5.55
January 1, 2022: $6.15
January 1, 2023: $6.75
Employers may require tipped employees to participate in a tip pooling or sharing arrangement. The tip pool must be limited to wait staff, service employees, and service bartenders, and the tips must be divided in proportion to the employees’ service.
Non-exempt employees must be paid an overtime rate of 1 ½ times the regular rate of pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in one workweek.
The federal overtime rule stipulates that the minimum salary requirement for administrative, professional, and executive exemptions is $684 per week, or $35,568 per year. Workers making at least this salary level may be eligible for overtime based on their job duties.
Massachusetts’ Blue Laws limit an employer’s ability to require employees to work on Sundays and certain holidays. In situations where employers are able to have employees work on Sundays or holidays, they may have to pay employees overtime.
Retail employees can refuse to work on the following holidays and must be paid 1 ½ times their regular rate if they do work: New Year’s Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Columbus Day after noon, Independence Day, and Veterans Day after 1 p.m.
Employers may not require employees to work more than 6 hours in a day without providing a 30-minute break, except for the following workplaces: ironworks, glassworks, paper mills, letterpress establishments, print works, bleaching works, dyeing works, any other factories, workshops, or mechanical establishments the Attorney General of Massachusetts designates as exempt.
The break period may be unpaid if employees are free to leave the workplace and do as they please.
Most employers must allow a worker to have one day off after six consecutive days of work. This day off must include an unbroken period between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Certain employees are exempt from this requirement, including janitors, pharmacists, and those that care for live animals.