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.
Overtime for farm workers: distinguishing exempt harvesting from non-exempt post-harvest work
Following the Supreme Judicial Court's ruling in Arias-Villano v. Chang & Sons Enterprises that post-harvest tasks like cleaning, sorting, and packaging are not exempt "agricultural and farm work," DL…
Seasonal camp counselors no longer need a minimum wage waiver
DLS explained that a July 2017 amendment to the minimum wage law removed "seasonal camp counselors and counselor trainees" from the legal definition of "occupation," meaning camps no longer need to ap…
Respiratory therapists are not exempt professionals under the overtime law
An employer asked DLS whether a respiratory therapist working for a private company (not a hospital, nursing home, or similar facility) qualifies for the "professional employee" overtime exemption und…
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…
State truck-driver overtime exemption is narrower than the federal motor-carrier exemption
An employer asked DOS (the Division of Occupational Safety) whether the Massachusetts overtime exemption for truck drivers, G.L. c. 151 §1A(8), applies as broadly as the federal motor-carrier exemptio…
"Workweek" for overtime purposes means a fixed, recurring 168-hour period
An employer whose non-exempt overnight caregivers work shifts spanning the end of the workweek asked DLS how "workweek" is defined for overtime purposes, since the term isn't defined in the state's mi…
State overtime law adopts the federal "highly compensated employee" exemption
An insurance/financial services company asked DLS whether Senior Sales Representatives earning over $100,000 annually, who coach junior staff, help with hiring, and do sales/marketing work, qualify fo…
A seasonal amusement park may separately claim the seasonal-business overtime waiver for a winter attraction
A seasonal amusement park, already exempt from state overtime under the 150-day amusement-park exemption, asked DLS whether it could add a winter holiday light display without jeopardizing that exempt…
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…
State hotel overtime exemption covers banquet servers working anywhere "in" hotel property
A law firm representing two hotel chains asked DLS whether banquet servers who work in hotels or on hotel property are exempt from state overtime under the "hotel, motel, motor court or like establish…
Seasonal business overtime waiver for a private club open 119 days a year
A private club open to members for 119 days a year (running a restaurant, bar, and sailing/tennis programs) asked whether it qualified for the seasonal-business overtime waiver under M.G.L. c. 151, §1…
Dock loader who rides trucks to check freight safety is an exempt 'driver's helper'
An employer asked whether a dock loader who primarily loads and unloads trucks, but also rides a short distance with the driver to check freight for safety, is exempt from state overtime as a "driver …
Electronic order transmissions don't defeat the outside-salesperson overtime exemption
An employer asked two sets of questions about state overtime exemptions: whether its outside salespersons' daily electronic transmission of orders and attendance at weekly sales meetings would defeat …
Dock workers who load trucks are 'loaders,' not exempt truck 'helpers' — reconsideration denied
Following DLS's February 26, 2002 opinion that a "truck loader/dock worker" likely isn't exempt from overtime, an employer's counsel asked DLS to reconsider as applied to specific dock workers who loa…
A live-in home health aide is covered by state minimum wage and overtime law regardless of federal exemptions
An employer asked whether Massachusetts minimum wage and overtime law applies to a live-in home health aide caring for an elderly client with multiple health conditions, performing duties like bathing…
Holiday pay for a day off doesn't count as hours worked toward overtime
An employer asked whether an employee who worked 36 hours in a week and also received 8 hours of holiday pay for a day off, both at the same straight-time rate, is owed any overtime for that week. DLS…
Riding a company truck to a job site: three scenarios on compensable travel time
An employer whose workers travel to job sites that change daily asked about the compensability of riding in company trucks in three scenarios: optional rides straight to the job site, required trips t…
Car dealership repair mechanics qualify for the 'garageman' overtime exemption
An employer asked whether hourly wage mechanics working at car dealerships qualify for the overtime exemption for a "garageman" under M.G.L. c. 151, §1A(15), a term the statute leaves undefined. DLS a…
State law requires overtime only past 40 hours/week, regardless of bid-spec language
Contractors bidding on MassHighway projects asked about a bid-specification requirement citing the federal Contract Work Hours Standards Act of 1962 that appeared to require time-and-a-half after eigh…
The truck-driver overtime exemption doesn't reach a truck loader/dock worker
An employer asked whether its overtime exemption for truck drivers, M.G.L. c. 151, §1A(8), covers an employee working as a "truck loader/dock worker." DLS explained the state exemption tracks a federa…
The state minimum wage law does not cover municipal employees
A resident forwarded a question through the Attorney General's Office asking whether the state minimum wage law applies to town employees. DLS explained that the Minimum Fair Wage Law's "occupation" d…
A lower hourly rate for identical work in overtime hours is not permitted
An employer and union were considering letting regular full-time bargaining-unit employees pick up seasonal overtime work at the lower seasonal-employee rate ($8.50/hour) instead of their normal $13.6…
State employees' overtime is governed by c. 149, not the minimum wage law
A state agency asked which statute governs overtime for its employees, what the statute of limitations is on a state employee's overtime claim, and whether the agency would face attorney's-fee and tri…
Overtime for mixed prevailing-wage/private jobs uses a full-week weighted average
An employer asked DLS to recalculate how overtime pay is figured for employees who work both prevailing-wage and non-prevailing-wage jobs for the same employer in a single week. DLS announced this let…
Case managers at an alcohol/drug treatment center likely aren't exempt professionals
An alcohol/drug treatment center asked whether its case managers are exempt "professionals" under the minimum wage law, and separately whether the facility qualifies for the sanitorium overtime exempt…
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.