Massachusetts Labor Guidance
Free plain-English summaries of opinion letters, administrative policies, and interpretive notices from Massachusetts's labor agency, with the current status and the official source on every page.
No Massachusetts documents match your search
Try different keywords or clear a filter.
Janitors and caretakers of residential property must get at least the basic minimum wage
DLS was asked whether summer camps may pay janitors and caretakers less than minimum wage. DLS answered no: although the law lets the DLS Director set special wage rates for certain job categories, th…
Overtime, sleep time, and wage deductions for live-in home health care workers
A home care company asked DLS how to calculate overtime for live-in caregivers working 24-hour shifts, whether their sleep and meal time is compensable, and whether it may deduct pay for transportatio…
Banquet service charges cannot substitute for minimum wage, only for the service rate
A hotel asked DLS whether a compulsory banquet service charge, paid in full to servers and bartenders in lieu of tips, can satisfy the entire minimum wage owed to those employees. DLS concluded that u…
How to calculate overtime for prevailing-wage work that includes health-plan contributions
A company performing municipal solid-waste collection under the Massachusetts prevailing wage law asked DLS how to calculate overtime for its truck-rate workers. DLS explained that under the prevailin…
Lodging deduction caps and the 2003 repeal of nightly on-call minimum pay
An employer asked three questions about wage deductions and on-call pay: whether housing, utilities, and cable can be credited toward minimum wage; whether employees on nightly on-call duty must be pa…
Recouping an inadvertent wage overpayment: when a wage deduction is and isn't allowed
This Advisory from the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division addresses when an employer may recover an inadvertent wage overpayment -- caused by a clerical or mathematical error -- through payroll de…
Browse Massachusetts guidance by topic
These are official interpretive documents from Massachusetts's labor agency: opinion letters answering questions from employers and workers, administrative policies, and interpretive notices. They show how the agency applies wage-and-hour and workplace law to real situations, but they are guidance, not statutes or court decisions, and the agency can supersede or withdraw them. Every page above shows the document's current status, when that status was last verified, and a link to the official source.