© 2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2025 ed. | 53 Method 2: Add salary plus half-time OT premium (salary divided by actual number of hours worked, up to maximum of specified number, then divided by 2) for each hour worked from hours 40 to the specified number of hours. Method 3: Add salary plus half-time OT premium (salary divided by 40, then divided by 2) for each hour worked from hours 40 to the specified number of hours.293 Examples of these calculation methods, assuming a salary of $700 for 50 hours, and 45 hours worked in the week, are: Method 1: $700 [salary] + ($7*5) [($700/50)/2 * OT Hours] - ($14*5) [$700/50 * (50-45)] = $665.00 Method 2: $700 [salary] + ($7.78*5) [($700/45)/2 * OT Hours] = $738.90 Method 3: $700 [salary] + ($8.75*5) [($700/40)/2 * OT Hours] = $743.75 When an employee works more than the specified number of hours in a given week, the employee must be paid one and one-half times regular rate for every hour worked over the specified number of hours. The determination of which method is most appropriate depends on business decisions and the ability to monitor compliance. Method 1 is a salary in name only. When the hours worked are fewer than the specified number of hours, the “salary” is reduced by the regular rate per hour. If the goal is a true “salary” for the set number of hours, Method 1 does not serve that goal. Method 2 provides a true salary but requires recalculation of the regular rate of pay on a weekly basis. Method 3 does not require recalculation and thus avoids the administrative burden associated with recalculation, but it results in additional expense due to the higher regular rate. Method 3 also carries some risk due to the fact that the DOL has not specifically opined on the issue. 11. Calculation of the Regular Rate for an Employee Working at Two or More Rates When an employee performs two or more types of work for an employer and receives different pay rates for each type of work, in Massachusetts (unlike many other states) the employee’s regular rate will be a weighted average of those pay rates.294 293 The DOL has not explicitly approved this method. Its Field Operations Handbook, however, permits the use of a forty-hour half-time for FWW employees. See WHD Field Operations Handbook 32b04b(a). Although the DOL has not made a similar pronouncement with respect to employees paid a salary for a fixed number of hours, the underlying logic would appear to permit such a calculation. 294 See DLS Opinion Letter MW-2001-014 (Nov. 27, 2001). Under Massachusetts law, the only approved method for calculating regular rate for employees working at two or more rates is the weighted average approach described in the text. Id. See also DLS Opinion Letter MW-2002-003 (Jan. 25, 2002). Federal law and several other states allow for an alternative method, in which the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTkwMTQ4