54 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2025 ed. © 2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Example: An employee works for a furniture store that pays its warehouse employees $20.00 per hour and its showroom employees $15.00 per hour. In one week, the employee works in the warehouse for 30 hours and in the showroom for 20 hours. The employee’s regular rate is determined by multiplying the 30 hours worked in the warehouse by the warehouse rate of $20.00 (30 x $20.00 per hour = $600.00) and the 20 hours worked in the showroom by the showroom rate of $15.00 (20 x $15.00 per hour = $300.00) and then dividing the sum of these numbers, $900.00 ($600.00 + $300.00), by the employee’s total hours for the week, in this case 50 hours. Thus, the employee’s regular rate for purposes of calculating overtime is $18.00 per hour ($900.00 ÷ 50 hours) and the employee is owed additional compensation at a rate of $9.00 (.5 x $18.00) for each hour over 40 hours. Here, the employee’s total compensation for the week would be $990.00 – $900.00 in regular pay, plus $90.00 in overtime ($9.00 x 10 hours). B. Sunday and Holiday Overtime Pay Requirements Prior to 2019, Massachusetts required retail businesses employing more than seven employees to compensate non-exempt employees at a rate not less than one and one-half times their regular rate for all hours worked on Sunday and some holidays.295 In 2019, Massachusetts began phasing out this requirement, and it was fully eliminated in 2023.296 V. EXEMPTIONS FROM OVERTIME Under both the Massachusetts Minimum Fair Wage Law and the FLSA, employees who meet certain specified requirements are exempt from overtime pay.297 To be exempt from overtime under state and federal law, an employee must fall within both a Massachusetts and federal exemption. While Massachusetts has specifically adopted some federal exemptions, including the so-called “white collar” exemptions, and Massachusetts courts and the DLS have looked to federal law for guidance when interpreting Massachusetts exemptions, the state and federal exemptions are not identical. Therefore, employers must ensure that employees treated as exempt satisfy the requirements of both a state and federal exemption. If an employee falls under an exemption that exists only under state law or only under federal law, but not both, the employer should not simply assume that the employee must be paid overtime—an employee may fall under one particular state exemption and a different federal exemption. For example, a sales employee rate in effect at the time that overtime is worked may be used as the regular rate, provided that the employee and employer agree to that method prior to the time the work is performed. 29 C.F.R. § 778.415. Massachusetts does not allow this method. 295 See M.G.L. ch. 136, § 6(50) (requiring premium pay on Sundays); M.G.L. ch. 136, § 13 (extending premium pay obligations to New Year’s Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day); M.G.L. ch. 136, § 16 (extending premium pay obligations to Memorial Day, Labor Day, Juneteenth Independence Day and Independence Day). See Section VIII.A for a detailed discussion of the Massachusetts laws governing Sunday and holiday premium pay requirements. 296 See St. 2018, ch. 121, §§ 5-16. 297 29 U.S.C. § 213; M.G.L. ch. 151, § 1A.
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