Massachusetts overtime rules for small employers

Key takeaways

• Massachusetts overtime law, M.G.L. c. 151, s. 1A, requires at least 1.5 times the regular rate for every hour an employee works over 40 in a work week.
• Massachusetts counts overtime by the week: state law does not require overtime after 8 hours in a day, according to the Department of Labor Standards.
• Section 1A lists 20 exemptions, including restaurant, hotel and gasoline station employees, but the federal Fair Labor Standards Act can still require overtime for those workers.
• Sunday and holiday premium pay for retail employees was eliminated effective January 1, 2023, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
• An employee who wins an overtime suit under M.G.L. c. 151, s. 1B is awarded treble damages plus litigation costs and attorneys’ fees.
• Employers must keep records of hours and pay for at least 3 years under M.G.L. c. 151, s. 15.

Massachusetts overtime law is the state rule, in M.G.L. c. 151, s. 1A, that an employer must pay at least one and one half times an employee’s regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a work week. If you run a shop, an office or a trade business in Boston or a nearby city or town, the same state statute applies to you, and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) applies beside it. Section 1A has no exemption based on how few people you employ.

The sections below cover who is owed overtime, how the rate is figured, the 20 statutory exemptions, salaried staff, the restaurant and hotel exception, Sunday and holiday pay, recordkeeping and penalties.

Who has to pay overtime in Massachusetts?

Overtime in Massachusetts is owed by any employer in the commonwealth whose employee works more than 40 hours in a work week, unless one of the exemptions in M.G.L. c. 151, s. 1A applies. Section 1A is state law. The Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division enforces it, and the Department of Labor Standards writes the wage regulation, 454 CMR 27.00.

Federal overtime law runs alongside. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division enforces the FLSA, and its Fact Sheet #14 says a business with at least two employees is covered when it has annual sales or business of at least $500,000. Employees whose own work regularly involves interstate commerce are covered even at smaller firms. Where both laws apply, the Attorney General’s Office says the more worker-protective one controls.

How is overtime pay calculated in Massachusetts?

Overtime pay in Massachusetts is at least 1.5 times the employee’s regular hourly rate for each hour over 40 in a work week. The regular hourly rate is the amount an employee is regularly paid for each hour of work, as defined in 454 CMR 27.02. For an employee paid by salary or piece work, the regulation divides total weekly earnings by total hours worked that week.

Take an hourly employee paid $20.00 who works 46 hours. The first 40 hours pay $800.00. The 6 overtime hours pay $30.00 each, or $180.00, for a week of $980.00.

Several details in the statute and the regulation change the math:

• Commissions, drawing accounts, bonuses and other incentive pay based on sales or production are left out of the regular rate under Section 1A.
• The regular rate used for overtime cannot be less than the basic minimum wage, which mass.gov lists as $15.00 an hour since January 1, 2023.
• A tipped employee paid the service rate gets overtime at 1.5 times the basic minimum wage, not 1.5 times the service rate, under 454 CMR 27.03(3). At a $15.00 minimum that works out to $22.50 an hour.

Hours count when they are working time, which 454 CMR 27.02 defines as all time an employee is required to be on the premises, on duty or at a prescribed work site. Ordinary commuting and meal breaks free of all duties are not included. Compensatory time is not a substitute for overtime pay. The Department of Labor Standards says an employer may not award comp time in place of overtime pay to a non-exempt worker.

Which employees are exempt from Massachusetts overtime?

Employees exempt from Massachusetts overtime are those in the 20 categories listed in M.G.L. c. 151, s. 1A. An exemption is a category of job or workplace that the statute removes from the 40-hour rule. The ones a small Greater Boston employer is most likely to meet are these:

• Bona fide executive, administrative or professional employees, and qualified trainees for those positions.
• Outside salespeople and outside buyers.
• Employees in a restaurant.
• Employees in a hotel, motel, motor court or similar establishment.
• Employees in a gasoline station, and garagemen (parking lot attendants are not included).
• Employees of a non-profit school or college, and of a summer camp run by a non-profit charitable corporation.
• Employees of a business that operates no more than 120 days a year and has been determined by the commissioner to be seasonal.

Section 1A also exempts hospital and nursing home employees, farm laborers, certain truck drivers, seamen and several smaller groups. Read the full list on the Legislature’s site before you treat a job as exempt, because courts have read some categories narrowly. The Trial Court Law Libraries’ overtime page summarizes Arias-Villano v. Chang & Sons (2019), where the Supreme Judicial Court held that workers who cleaned and packaged bean sprouts were not covered by the agriculture exemption.

Do salaried employees get overtime in Massachusetts?

Salaried employees in Massachusetts get overtime unless their job fits an exemption. Paying a salary does not by itself remove the right to overtime, according to the Department of Labor Standards.

The executive, administrative and professional exemption in Section 1A(3) follows the federal definitions. The statute’s own figure, “more than eighty dollars per week,” is far below the federal test, and 454 CMR 27.03(3) says the terms have the same meaning as in 29 CFR Part 541. Under those federal rules, the U.S. Department of Labor’s salary levels page lists a standard salary level of $684 per week ($35,568 a year) as of November 13, 2026. The employee must also be paid on a salary basis and meet a duties test.

The duties tests are described in Fact Sheet #17A. An exempt executive, for example, has a primary duty of managing the enterprise or a recognized department and regularly directs at least two full-time employees. A job title alone does not meet the test.

Do restaurants and hotels have to pay overtime in Massachusetts?

Restaurants and hotels in Massachusetts are exempt from the state overtime statute, but most still owe overtime under federal law. M.G.L. c. 151, s. 1A excludes employees “in a restaurant” and “in a hotel, motel, motor court or like establishment.” The Department of Labor Standards states the limit plainly: restaurant employees are exempt from overtime under state law, but not under federal law.

A restaurant or hotel covered by the FLSA therefore pays 1.5 times the regular rate after 40 hours under the federal rule. For federal questions about restaurant overtime, the Department of Labor Standards refers employers to the Boston office of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

Is Sunday and holiday premium pay still required in Massachusetts?

Sunday and holiday premium pay is no longer required of Massachusetts retailers. The Attorney General’s pay and recordkeeping guide says the premium pay requirements for certain retail employers were eliminated effective January 1, 2023. Chapter 121 of the Acts of 2018 set that phase-out, the same law that raised the minimum wage to $15.00.

Under the minimum fair wage law, an employer does not have to pay extra for weekend, holiday or night work, according to the Department of Labor Standards. A Sunday shift counts toward overtime like any other day: it earns 1.5 times the regular rate only when it pushes the week past 40 hours. The Massachusetts Blue Laws in M.G.L. c. 136 still control which businesses may open on Sundays and some legal holidays.

What overtime records do Massachusetts employers have to keep?

Massachusetts employers have to keep a true and accurate record of each employee’s name, address, occupation, pay for each pay period, and hours worked each day and each week. M.G.L. c. 151, s. 15 requires the records to be kept for at least 3 years after the entry date.

The Attorney General and the Department of Labor Standards may inspect the records at any reasonable time, and Section 15 requires you to hand over a copy immediately on request. An employee may inspect the records that pertain to that employee at reasonable times and places.

What happens if a Massachusetts employer does not pay overtime?

A Massachusetts employer that does not pay overtime faces enforcement by the Attorney General and a private lawsuit by the employee. Under M.G.L. c. 151, s. 1B, each underpaid week and each underpaid employee is a separate offense. An employee who prevails in court is awarded treble damages for the lost overtime, plus litigation costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees. An agreement to work for less than the overtime rate is not a defense.

The Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division can respond to a complaint with a warning, a civil citation or criminal charges. M.G.L. c. 149, s. 27C allows a civil penalty of up to $25,000 for each violation, capped at $15,000 for an employer with no prior citation or conviction. Workers file complaints online or call the Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Claims reach back 3 years. M.G.L. c. 151, s. 20A bars actions on violations older than that, and the clock pauses while a complaint is pending with the Attorney General.

What should you recheck before you act?

The figures below were checked on November 13, 2026. Confirm each one at the source named before you set a pay policy.

• Federal salary level for exempt executive, administrative and professional staff: $684 per week. Confirm on the U.S. Department of Labor’s salary levels page, since federal rulemaking and court decisions have moved this figure before.
• Massachusetts basic minimum wage ($15.00) and the tipped overtime rate that follows from it ($22.50). Confirm on mass.gov each January.
• The list of 20 exemptions in M.G.L. c. 151, s. 1A. Confirm the current text on malegislature.gov.
• FLSA enterprise coverage at $500,000 in annual volume. Confirm in U.S. Department of Labor Fact Sheet #14.
• Civil penalty caps in M.G.L. c. 149, s. 27C. Confirm with the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules and fees change; confirm the current requirements with the agency named before you file or pay.

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