© 2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2025 ed. | 97 Hospitals,557 sanatoriums,558 convalescent or nursing homes, rest homes, or charitable homes for the aged559 Gas stations Non-profit schools or colleges Summer camps operated by non-profit charitable corporations560 The DLS has construed these blanket exceptions only to apply to employees who physically work on the premises of the types of establishments covered by the exemption. Thus, hotel employees are exempt from overtime, but hotel banquet servers who work off-site—not “in” the hotel—are entitled to overtime pay.561 6. Other Massachusetts Exemptions Massachusetts law also provides the following less commonly applied exemptions: Garagemen562 Certain janitors or caretakers of residential property Golf caddies Child actors or performers Newsboys Fishermen Switchboard operators in a public telephone exchange 557 As discussed supra note 1, some hospitals are also exempt from the Payment of Wages Statute. 558 The term “sanatorium” is not defined in the statute. However, the DLS has adopted the definition in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (2008), which “defines the term ‘sanatorium’ as ‘1: an establishment that provides therapy by physical agents (as hydrotherapy, light therapy) combined with diet, exercise, and other measures for treatment or rehabilitation; 2a: an institution for rest and recuperation esp. for invalids and convalescents, b: an establishment for the treatment of the sick esp. if suffering from chronic disease (as alcoholism, tuberculosis, nervous or mental disease) requiring protracted care.’ [The DLS], and its predecessor, the Department of Labor and Industries, have narrowly construed this exemption.” DLS Opinion Letter MW2001-016 (Nov. 19, 2001). 559 Massachusetts law prohibits mandatory overtime for hospital nurses except in emergency situations. M.G.L. ch. 111, § 226 (2012). 560 M.G.L. ch. 151, § 1A. 561 DLS Opinion Letter MW-2006-001 (Mar. 10, 2006). 562 A “garageman” is “any worker performing repair work on automobiles—be it a stand-alone repair shop or one that is part of a larger establishment such as a car dealership . . . .” DLS Opinion Letter MW-2002-014 (Apr. 30, 2002).
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