- Lemberg Law
- FSLA Lawyers – Fair Labor Standards Act Attorneys
- Massachusetts Overtime Law
Generally speaking, non-exempt employees must be paid 1-1/2 times their regular pay for every hour worked over 40 hours during a workweek. Keep in mind that overtime pay isn’t required if you work more than eight hours in a single day; it is only applicable after 40 hours per week.
Massachusetts Blue Laws restricts the operation of certain businesses on Sundays and holidays. Work that is exempt from Blue Laws includes:
- Food sellers that employ three or fewer people per shift
- Toll and bridge workers
- Public health and safety workers
- Emergency repairmen
- Sellers and manufacturers of fuel and electricity
- Bank documenting processing
- Media and communications
- Real estate
- Art gallery exhibits
- Libraries
- Public bathhouses
- Non-commercial fishing and bait selling
- Fishing
- Renting horses, vehicles, boats, and aircraft for recreational use
- Sale and rental of sporting equipment
- Retail sale of fuel and automotive repairs
- Retail sale of batteries and automotive parts for emergency use
- Retail nurseries
- Land cultivation, cheese making, and butter making
- Off-premises food sellers
- Kosher sales and deliveries
- Making and selling bakery products
- Retail sales of a variety of food products
- Sale and delivery of ice
- Retail sales of medical and personal health items
- Retail sales of greeting cards and film
- Retail sales of gifts, crafts, souvenirs, and antiques
- Retail sales of pets and pet supplies
- Transport of goods, passengers, and livestock
- Lodging
- Shoeshine
- Musicians employed for parades
- Religious and legal work
- Car washes that employ a maximum of two people
- Laundromats
- Lottery ticket sales
- Retail sales
- Video rentals
- Hair salons
- Banking
- Driver education
Retailers that are not exempt from Blue Laws cannot mandate that employees work on Sunday, nor penalize employees that do not choose to work on Sunday. Retailers with more than seven employees (including the owner) must pay employees 1-1/2 times their regular rate of pay for work performed on a Sunday. This does not apply to exempted executive, administrative, and professional employees.
Retailers can mandate work and do not have to pay 1-1/2 pay on the following holidays:
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- President’s Day
- Evacuation Day
- Patriots’ Day
- Bunker Hill Day
Retailers with more than seven employees (including the owner) must pay employees 1-1/2 times their regular rate of pay and cannot mandate that employees work on:
- New Year’s Day
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Columbus Day after 12:00 noon
- Veteran’s Day after 1:00 p.m.
Retailers who have a local police permit and who have received State approval must pay employees 1-1/2 times their regular pay and cannot mandate that employees work on:
- Columbus Day before 12:00 noon
- Veteran’s Day before 1:00 p.m.
- Thanksgiving Day
- Christmas Day
Non-retail businesses can pay straight pay and can mandate that employees work on:
- New Year’s Day
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- President’s Day
- Evacuation Day
- Patriots’ Day
- Bunker Hill Day
- Columbus Day after 12:00 noon
- Veteran’s Day after 1:00 p.m.
Non-retail businesses that have a local police permit must pay employees 1-1/2 times their regular pay and cannot mandate that employees work on:
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Columbus Day before 12:00 noon
- Veteran’s Day before 1:00 p.m.
- Thanksgiving Day
- Christmas Day
According to Massachusetts law, the following workers do not qualify for overtime pay:
- Residential janitors and caretakers who live on the property and make more than $30 per week
- Golf caddies, newsboys, and child performers
- Those employed in executive, administrative, or professional capacities or who are trainees for those positions and earn more than $80 per week
- Outside salespeople and buyers
- Section Nine apprentices or handicapped people
- Fishermen
- Public switchboard operators
- Drivers and helpers exempted by the Interstate Commerce Commission or the Railway Labor Act
- Seasonal workers who work for businesses in operation a maximum of 120 days per year
- Seamen
- Those employed by hotels and motels
- Gas station employees
- Restaurant employees
- Garagemen
- Those employed by hospitals, convalescent homes, and nursing homes
- Those employed by a nonprofit school or college
- Those employed by a nonprofit summer camp
- Agricultural workers
- Amusement park workers
To get the money you deserve, call Lemberg Law at 475-277-2200. Our employment lawyers will review your case and give you no-nonsense answers to your questions.