40 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2025 ed. © 2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP provide reporting pay to an employee called in to perform work while on call because the employee is not “scheduled to work” a shift of three hours or more.241 For example: If an employee is scheduled to work two hours, reports to work, and performs two hours of work, the employee is owed two hours of pay at his or her regular hourly rate. A third hour of pay is not required because the shift was scheduled for less than three hours. If the same employee reports to work and there is no work for the employee to perform, no payment is required. Because the shift was scheduled for less than three hours, the reporting pay requirement does not apply. Organizations that have charitable status under the Internal Revenue Code are exempt from the reporting pay requirement.242 There is no similar requirement under federal law. 4. Sleep Time Because of the nature of certain jobs, an employer may give an employee a sleeping period during work. Under both Massachusetts and federal law, whether or not sleep time is compensable depends on the length of the employee’s shift and, in some circumstances, the arrangement made between the employer and the employee. Any employee who is required to be on duty at the work site for less than twenty-four hours must be paid for the time even if the employee is allowed to sleep or conduct other personal activities during that time.243 If the shift exceeds twenty-four hours, the employer and employee may agree that up to eight hours total of sleep and meal time will be unpaid so long as the employer provides adequate sleeping arrangements and the employee can enjoy an uninterrupted night’s sleep.244 If those requirements are not met, all sleep time is compensable.245 5. Compensable Travel Time Massachusetts regulations generally conform to the federal regulations in defining the types of travel time that constitute compensable work time.246 An employer may establish a different rate 241 For example, when an on-call technician was called into work for a job that took only one hour to complete, the DLS opined that the employer did not owe three hours of pay because nothing in the reporting pay regulation prohibits employees and employers from agreeing that an employee’s regular hours will last less than three hours. DLS Opinion Letter MW-2002-015 (May 6, 2002). See also DLS Opinion Letter MW-2002-017 (June 4, 2002). 242 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(1). 243 29 C.F.R. § 785.21; 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(3)(a). 244 29 C.F.R. § 785.22; 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(3)(b). The agreement should be in writing and signed. 245 29 C.F.R. § 785.22; 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(3)(b). The Massachusetts sleep time regulation further provides that “[i]f an employee resides on an employer’s premises on a permanent basis or for extended periods of time, not all time spent on the premises is considered working time. The employer and the employee may make any reasonable written agreement as to hours worked which takes into consideration all of the pertinent facts.” 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(3)(c); DLS Opinion Letter MW-2003-007 (Aug. 1, 2003). 246 29 C.F.R. §§ 785.35-785.41; 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(4).
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