State Labor Guidance
Free state labor-agency opinion letters, administrative policies, and interpretive notices, with plain-English summaries, current status, and the official source on every page.
No documents match your search
Try different keywords or clear a filter.
Personal attendant definition under Wage Order 15: scope of duties
A home-care industry trade association asked DLSE to clarify what duties count toward the "personal attendant" exemption under Wage Order 15, which exempts qualifying home-care workers from most wage …
Tip pool policy: lawfulness of mandatory tip pooling and participation criteria
A casino asked whether its mandatory tip pool policy, requiring an employee who receives a tip to contribute 15% into a pool distributed to other employees in the service chain, complies with Labor Co…
Building Automation Service technicians and the Prevailing Wage Law
An employer asked whether Building Automation Service (BAS) technicians are covered by the Massachusetts Prevailing Wage Law. The office responded that it depends on the specific duties actually perfo…
Driving by Minors in Non-Agricultural Jobs
This L&I administrative policy explains when minors may drive as part of a non-agricultural job. No one 16 or under may drive on public roadways for work; 17-year-olds may drive only occasionally and …
Mandatory meal-break deduction and unauthorized work during the break
An employer asked whether it could enforce a policy requiring a mandatory half-hour meal break for shifts over five hours and automatically deduct that time regardless of whether the employee actually…
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…
Bona fide teachers may be paid hourly and keep their overtime exemption
A trade-school operator asked DLS whether a "teaching professional" could be paid on an hourly basis and still qualify as an exempt professional employee under the state overtime law. DLS concluded th…
Untipped wait staff in training must get full minimum wage, not the service rate
A restaurant asked whether it could pay newly-hired wait staff the reduced $2.63 service rate during an initial training period in which they earn no tips. DLS concluded that untipped trainees aren't …
Paying psychiatric patients $6/hour cleaning crew requires a sub-minimum wage waiver
A non-profit hospital asked whether it could pay $6.00 per hour to psychiatric patients who perform cleaning and maintenance work as part of a rehabilitation program, work that had previously been don…
Private right of action to enforce meal period pay under IWC orders and Labor Code section 226.7
An attorney asked whether employees have a private right of action to recover the extra hour of pay owed when an employer fails to provide a required meal or rest period under Labor Code section 226.7…
Stipended elder-services volunteers may keep volunteer status after funding ends
A nonprofit social service agency asked whether it could keep treating its elder-services volunteers as volunteers, rather than employees, after the state grant funding their small stipends ended, if …
Minors and Bloodborne Pathogens in Non-Medical Settings
This L&I administrative policy explains that minors are not categorically barred from working in child day care, bathroom-cleaning, or hotel/motel housekeeping jobs, but are prohibited from tasks wher…
Meal break spent required to stay on premises counts as compensable working time
An employer asked whether an uninterrupted half-hour meal break, during which no work is permitted but employees must remain on the premises, counts as compensable "working time." DLS adopted the Atto…
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…
Determination of exempt or non-exempt status of officers and 'key administrative personnel' employed by labor unions
A union-side law firm asked DLSE to categorically declare that labor union officers and "key administrative personnel" (business agents, organizers, field representatives) are exempt from overtime. DL…
Whether undifferentiated PTO counts as sick leave for Kin Care and is subject to vacation vesting
A law firm asked whether an employer's undifferentiated paid-time-off (PTO) bank — which lets employees take days off for any reason without distinguishing vacation from sick time — counts as sick lea…
Home-to-work travel in a company van isn't compensable if conditions are met
An employer whose field technicians travel from home to customer worksites in company-provided vans asked whether that home-to-work travel is compensable working time. DLS adopted the federal Portal-t…
Post-termination forfeiture of sales commissions
An employer asked whether it could withhold quarterly sales commissions from employees who weren't currently employed at payout time. The DLSE responded that commissions on sales are wages earned upon…
Resident employees at 24-hour care facilities: sleep time and lodging charges
A residential care facility asked the DLSE whether "resident employees" who live on-site but aren't required to stay there must be paid for sleep time, and how much the facility may charge them for ro…
Travel time pay for an employee working alternating worksites
An employer asked whether an employee who alternates weeks between two work locations must be paid for the roughly 1.5-hour daily commute to the more distant site. The DLSE explained that an ordinary …
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 …
Child labor rules apply to minors filmed in reality television
A production company asked whether California's entertainment-industry child labor laws apply to minors appearing in an unscripted "reality" television show, given there's no script and the goal is to…
Wage deductions for property damage require gross negligence or willful misconduct
An employer asked whether it could deduct from employees' wages for vehicle "accidents," believing deductions for simple negligence were barred but deductions for gross negligence or willful misconduc…
Students in a disabilities vocational-training placement are not covered employees
A high school asked DLS whether students with developmental disabilities placed at local businesses through its Community Based Vocational Training Program are "employees" covered by the state minimum…
Federal fixed-schedule recordkeeping shortcut is permissible under state law too
An employer asked whether Massachusetts wage-hour law recognizes the federal "fixed schedule exception," which lets employers keep a schedule-based record of hours instead of logging exact hours worke…
Farm labor contractor licensing covers farm managers, packers, and custom harvesters
Growers asked the DLSE whether entities they hire under labels like "farm manager," "vineyard management company," or "custom harvester" must be licensed as farm labor contractors under Labor Code sec…
Tardiness wage deductions limited to Labor Code section 2928's narrow exception
An employer asked the DLSE to reconcile Labor Code section 2928, which allows deducting up to a half-hour's wage for tardiness of less than 30 minutes, with the general rule that employees must be pai…
"Blended rate" bonus for shortened shifts need not be folded into the regular rate
A hospital asked whether it could pay a "blended rate" bonus — extra pay calculated to make an employee whole when sent home early from a scheduled shift — without folding that bonus into the regular …
Waiting-time penalties and vacation payouts must include bonuses and commissions
An employer asked whether waiting-time penalties for late final pay, and payouts of unused vacation, should be based on base salary alone or total compensation including guaranteed bonuses. The DLSE c…
Changing a vacation plan's calculation method doesn't erase already-vested pay
An employer wanted to stop including a night-shift pay differential when calculating vacation pay going forward, and asked whether it owed employees a lump-sum "true-up" for vacation already accrued u…
The teacher exemption is limited to certificated or college-level teachers
A law firm asked whether California's professional exemption for "teachers" extends beyond those certified by the Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing or teaching at an accredited college,…
Pay tied to collecting patient bills isn't a valid exempt salary
A psychological treatment center paid its licensed psychologists and assistants a percentage of collections received from patients or insurers, often months after services were rendered, and asked whe…
Site surveillance technicians don't qualify as exempt professionals
An employer asked whether "site surveillance technicians," who monitor asbestos abatement work under a certification requiring only a high school diploma and six months' experience, qualify for the pr…
Wage order coverage for temp-agency workers placed with public employers
A staffing agency asked whether IWC wage orders apply to its employees while they're placed with city, county, or other public employers who use alternative workweek schedules the agency itself never …
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 …
Limousine drivers are not exempt from overtime as "taxicab drivers"
A limousine company argued its pre-arranged, dispatched drivers should be exempt from California overtime rules under either the taxicab-driver exemption or the exemption for drivers whose hours are f…
Payroll payment by cash-dispensing machine
A union attorney asked whether it was legal for an employer to pay "day laborers" through a leased cash-dispensing machine (CDM) that charged a $1 fee and paid out only in bills, rather than by a stan…
Hours worked: split shift
An attorney asked how long an unpaid break can last before it stops counting as a meal period and instead becomes a "split shift" requiring extra pay. DLSE explained that it has long treated any bona …
Commission payments: timing under Labor Code section 204
An employer of mortgage-loan sales staff, paid through biweekly draws plus monthly commissions whose rate depends on total monthly loan volume, asked whether this timing satisfies Labor Code section 2…
Meal periods: impact of SB 1208 on an existing collective bargaining agreement
An employer's counsel asked whether SB 1208's 2002 changes to Labor Code section 512 let unionized employers wait until their current collective bargaining agreement expires before adding a meal perio…
Wage requirements for camp counselors
An operator of educational overnight programs (including historic-ship stays and island camps) asked whether its counselors qualified for Labor Code section 1182.4's minimum-wage/overtime exemption fo…
On-duty meal periods
An employer association asked whether a fast-food restaurant could give a solo hourly shift manager an "on-duty" meal period, since the manager needed to stay available to answer questions during late…
Negative election to participate in 401(k) plans
A benefits attorney asked DLSE to reconsider its 1998 opinion that "negative election" 401(k) enrollment (automatically deducting a contribution unless the employee opts out) violates California law, …
On-call pager time away from a hotel worksite isn't covered by the on-call-at-worksite rule
A hotel asked whether the on-call regulation requiring at least four hours' pay per night for on-call workers (455 C.M.R. §2.03(1)(b)) applies to maintenance workers who carry a pager after their shif…
Distinguishing a covered employee from a bona fide volunteer
Given a hypothetical where a worker was pressured into nine months of full-time unpaid "volunteer" work — performing the same duties as paid case managers, under threat that her employer would withdra…
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…
Home health aide split shifts: off-duty gaps and inter-client travel
A home health agency asked about a split-shift aide who works 8-10 a.m., goes home, then returns for a 3-11 p.m. shift, and about a different aide who travels roughly 15 minutes between client visits …
Labor Code section 233: sick leave to attend to family
An HR consultant asked three questions about California's "kin care" law, Labor Code section 233: whether it covers public employers, whether a collective bargaining agreement addressing sick leave ca…
Employer: definition of employer
Two attorneys litigating a wage claim jointly asked the Labor Commissioner's hearing officer to clarify the legal basis for a prior award holding both a corporation and its individual officer jointly …
Overtime: commission pay plans
An employer of commissioned inside salespersons paid a base salary plus monthly commissions under Wage Order 2 asked about overtime obligations. DLSE explained that these employees don't qualify for t…
Commission calculations
A commissioned coffee salesperson asked about his employer's plan that debited 50% of any invoice unpaid after 90 days from his commission account, and that limited commissions at termination to those…
Tardiness
A manufacturing employer's counsel described a proposed plan to refuse to let late-arriving employees clock in until the top of the next hour, so they'd be paid for less than eight hours. DLSE pointed…
Salesperson exemption (Orders 4 and 7)
An attorney argued that IWC Order 7's coverage of "commodities" sales didn't extend to insurance agents, and separately questioned whether an insurance agent's pay was really a "commission" as opposed…
Coverage of California wage laws
An attorney asked whether California wage and wage-payment laws apply to an employee under a written contract for 18-24 months of overseas work, depending on whether any work was performed in Californ…
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…
The three-hour reporting-pay rule applies to short off-schedule interviews and meetings too
An employer asked whether the "reporting pay" three-hour rule (455 C.M.R. §2.03(1)(a)) applies when it calls an employee in on a day off, or outside normal hours, for a workplace interview or meeting,…
Alternative workweek: reduction of pay not allowed
A dialysis-clinic worker wrote to DLSE's public info line after her hourly rate was cut twice as her employer moved her from an 8-hour training schedule to 10-hour and then 12-hour shifts, each time l…
Semimonthly pay periods for nonexempt salaried employees
An employer paid non-exempt salaried employees semimonthly and listed a flat 86.67 "averaged" hours per pay period on wage statements rather than the actual, varying hours worked. DLSE held this viola…
A nonprofit's job-readiness construction training program is exempt from the wage law
A registered nonprofit charity asked whether participants in its 10-month job-readiness and construction-skills program — which pairs supervised construction work with GED preparation and pays a flat …
How this guidance is useful
- See how the agency reads the law: An opinion letter shows how a state labor agency actually applied wage-and-hour law to a real employer's or worker's situation.
- Check the status before relying: Every page shows whether the document is still active or has been superseded, rescinded, or withdrawn, and when that status was last verified.
- Guidance, not law: These documents explain the agency's position but bind no court, and the agency can change its view. The official document linked on every page is the authoritative source.
- Research across states: Compare how different states treat the same question, from overtime and travel time to tips and independent-contractor status.