120 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2025 ed. © 2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP performed on such holiday.”705 The following charts—one applicable to retail establishments and the other to non-retail establishments—summarize the laws currently governing legal holidays.706 Retail Establishments – Holiday Requirements Can Employer Require Employee to Work? Is Permit Required for Operation? Martin Luther King Jr. Day Presidents Day Evacuation Day* Patriots Day* Bunker Hill Day* May Require Employee to Work† Not Required New Year’s Day Columbus Day after 12 p.m. Veterans Day after 1 p.m. Juneteenth Independence Day Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day May Not Require Employee to Work Not Required Columbus Day before 12 p.m. Veterans Day before 1 p.m. May Not Require Employee to Work Required†† Thanksgiving Day Christmas Day** May Not Require Employee to Work Required, but the practice is to not allow retail stores to be open†† *These holidays are observed only in Suffolk County. **Retail stores may not open on Christmas Day if Christmas occurs on a Sunday. †These holidays are not subject to M.G.L. ch. 136, § 5. 705 M.G.L. ch. 136, § 15. In addition, permits may be granted “for the performance of work on [legal] holiday[s] by clerical and office personnel in offices which are corporate offices or branches of interstate manufacturing operations working in other states on such holiday or in offices connected with manufacturing plants in the commonwealth” even if production work does not occur in the plants on the holiday, “if inconvenience will result if such work is not performed on such holiday.” Id. 706 M.G.L. ch. 136, §§ 13-16.
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