How Massachusetts Law Differs
Meal Periods and Breaks
- Massachusetts Law requires employees who work more than 6 hours in a shift to be allowed to take a 30-minute unpaid meal break. Employers are not required to schedule every employee the meal break but cannot refuse an employee request for a meal break or coerce the employee not to take their break.
Paid Sick Leave
- Massachusetts law requires an employer to pay an employee up to 40 hours of sick leave per calendar year. The employee earns those hours at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked.
- Unused vacation time does carry over to the following year but is always capped at 40 hours per year.
- Employees must be paid their regular rate for only the scheduled hours they missed on the day they are requesting sick pay. Tipped workers get paid minimum wage.
- You are not allowed to ask for any proof of them being sick or a doctor’s note unless they have been out of work for longer than 3 days.
- Employees can use their sick leave for themselves or when caring for family members.
Reporting Pay
- Massachusetts law requires an employer to pay the employee a minimum of 3 hours for each shift that they report for a scheduled shift but are sent home before performing any work.
- Reporting to work means that they have arrived at the employer’s work site for a scheduled shift. If an employee is notified any time before they arrive at their place of work reporting pay is not required.
- If the employee is scheduled for less than 3 hours, then the employer only has to pay for those scheduled hours. An example would be if a 2 hour training session was scheduled.
Uniform vs Dress Code Uniforms
- Massachusetts law does not allow an employer to charge for any uniform regardless of the number of uniforms given to an employee
Final Payment of Wages
- Massachusetts law requires that an employee who was involuntarily terminated from employment must receive all wages owed to them on the same day as their termination. If the employee quits, they can be paid at the next regular payday.
Federal FMLA
- Massachusetts law offers PAID and protected leave for employees with a serious medical condition, a pregnancy for both the mother and father and caring for one’s family. This benefit is administered by the State of Massachusetts and funded by deductions from the employees’ wages each week. The amount of money an employee will earn is based on a review of previous earned wages. The protected leave is the same as federal, 12 weeks, with the only exception being a possible 8 additional weeks for the birth of a child or care of an immediate family member.