Minimum Wage
Massachusetts’ current minimum wage is $14.25.
The minimum wage in Massachusetts will increase to $15 per hour on January 1, 2023. Law states that the minimum wage in Massachusetts must be at least $0.50 higher than the federal minimum wage as set in the Fair Labor Standards Act. For employees who earn tips, the minimum wage is $6.15 per hour, which will increase to $6.75 per hour on January 1, 2023. For an employee to qualify as a tipped employee, they must regularly earn $20 in tips per month.
For more information on Massachusetts minimum wage laws, visit our Massachusetts Minimum Wage Laws page, which includes topics such as minimum wage, tip minimum wage, tip sharing, and pooling, and subminimum wages.
Related topics covered on other pages include:
Overtime
Massachusetts labor laws require employers to pay employees overtime at a rate of 1½ time their regular rate when they work 40 hours or more in a workweek, unless otherwise exempt. MA Statute 151-1A; Mass. Labor and Workforce Development FAQ. See FLSA: Overtime for more information regarding overtime requirements.
Blue Laws
Massachusetts maintains laws, known as Blue Laws, that limit an employer’s ability to require employees to work on Sundays and some holidays. Also, in situations where employers are permitted to employ employees on Sundays or holidays, they may be required to pay those employees at a rate of 1½ times their regular rate. See Holiday Leave, Mass. Blue Laws Overview.
Prevailing Wages
Under certain circumstances, employers in Massachusetts may be required to pay residents wage rates established by the federal or state prevailing wage rates and rules. The prevailing wage rates may be different from the state’s standard minimum wage rates.
Employees may be eligible for prevailing wages if they work on federal or state government or government-funded construction projects or perform certain federal or state government services. See the Massachusetts Prevailing Wages, Davis-Bacon and Related Acts, McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA), and Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act (PCA) for more information about prevailing wages.
Meals and Breaks
Under Massachusetts labor laws, employers may not require employees to work more than six hours in a calendar day without providing them a 30-minute break, except in those situations listed below. MA Statute 149-100. The break period may be unpaid if employees are (1) free from all duties and (2) free to leave the workplace during the break. MA Dept. of Labor and Workforce Dev., Opinion Letter 08-05-03.
An employer must compensate an employee at least minimum wage for the 30-minute break if the employee has voluntarily agreed to forgo the break period by (1) working through his or her break or (2) remaining on the premises during the break at the request of the employer even though no work is performed. MA Dept. of Labor and Workforce Dev., Opinion Letter 08-05-03; see also MA Dept. of Labor and Workforce Dev., Opinion Letter 04-27-05.
Employers are not required to provide the 30-minute break to employees working in the following:
- iron works,
- glass works,
- paper mills,
- letterpress establishments,
- print works,
- bleaching works,
- dyeing works, or
- any other factories, workshops, or mechanical establishments the Attorney General of Massachusetts designates as exempt due to the continuous nature of the process or other special circumstance, so long as it does not result in injury to the affected employees.
Nursing Mother Breaks
Massachusetts’ labor laws require employers to provide nursing employees which reasonable accommodations which includes giving the nursing employees time to express milk in private non-bathroom spaces. MA Statute 151-4A.
Vacation Leave
An employer in Massachusetts does not have to provide vacation benefits, unpaid or paid, to employees
However, providing such benefits to employees must comply with the terms set out in the employment contract or vacation leave policy.
If a business provides such benefits, the employer must compensate their workers for the accumulated leave time at the end of the contract or employment.
Employers are not allowed to force employees to forfeit their vested or accrued vacation time at the end of employment.
However, a business may cap the number of leave hours an employee may accumulate. Employers in Massachusetts may also have a use-it or lose-it vacation leave policy.
Information about Massachusetts vacation leave laws may now be found on our Massachusetts Leave Laws page.
Sick Leave
Massachusetts does not obligate an employer to provide sick leave benefits to workers. The law states that workers will earn at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked and may accrue up to 40 hours of job-protected sick days per year. According to the Family and Medical Leave Act and other federal guidelines, employers in Massachusetts may also provide employees with unpaid sick leave.
Information about Massachusetts sick leave laws may now be found on our Massachusetts Leave Laws page.
Holiday Leave
In Massachusetts, employers may compel employees to work on certain holidays. Moreover, retailers with seven employers or more must pay a premium wage on various holidays, including New Year’s Day, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, etc. The holiday leave laws in Massachusetts vary according to the type of work done, whether manufacturing, non-retail, or retail.
Information about Massachusetts holiday leave laws may now be found on our Massachusetts Leave Laws page.
Jury Duty Leave
Employers in Massachusetts must allow employees to take time off to serve on jury duty and compensate standard workers their regular wages during the first three days of jury service. However, wages will not be paid past the first three days. A “regular” employee is defined as full-time, temporary, part-time, or casual. An employer may not coerce, threaten, penalize, discharge, harass, or deny benefits to an employee because of jury service.
Information about Massachusetts jury duty leave laws may now be found on our Massachusetts Leave Laws page.
Voting Leave
The law in Massachusetts prohibits employers from forcing employees to work within two hours of the opening of the polls if they work in a mercantile setting, in a mechanical setting, or in manufacturing. Other than in these industries, employers are not required to provide their employees with unpaid or paid leave to vote. Generally, workers in Massachusetts must vote on their own time.
Information about Massachusetts voting leave laws may now be found on our Massachusetts Leave Laws page.
Severance Pay
Massachusetts labor laws do not require employers to provide employees with severance pay. MA Off. of Labor FAQs. If an employer chooses to provide severance benefits, it must comply with the terms of its established policy or employment contract.
Unemployment
Under certain circumstances, Massachusetts residents may be eligible for unemployment benefits while they search for another job. You are required to certify that you are unemployed on a weekly basis to receive these benefits.
Various qualifications must be met for a worker in Massachusetts to qualify for unemployment insurance. For example, the worker must have earned at least $5,700 during the last four completed calendar quarters and earned 30 times the weekly benefit amount they would be eligible to collect.
In addition, they must be legally authorized to work in the US, unemployed or working significantly reduced hours, and they must be able and willing to work and search for new employment. Unemployment cannot be the employee’s fault for them to qualify for unemployment insurance.
See Massachusetts State Unemployment Benefits.
