The Massachusetts minimum wage is $15.00 per hour. If you earn tips, your employer may pay you a service rate of $6.75 per hour, but only if your tips bring you to at least $15.00 for every shift. If they do not, the employer must make up the difference. Most workers are owed time and a half for hours over 40 in a week. If your employer shortchanges you on any of this, the law awards you three times the unpaid amount plus attorney’s fees, and the court has no discretion to reduce it.
Here is how each rule works and what to do if your paycheck is short.
The minimum wage: $15.00 per hour
A wage under $15.00 per hour is “conclusively presumed to be oppressive and unreasonable” in Massachusetts (G.L. c. 151, § 1). The statute also guarantees that the state rate will always be at least 50 cents above the federal minimum. The rate did not change on January 1, 2026. If someone is paying you less than $15.00 and calling you an employee, something is wrong.
What changed for 2026, and what did not
As of October 2026, the numbers are the same as last year. The minimum wage is $15.00, the tipped service rate is $6.75, and the statute sets no future increase. The federal minimum wage is still $7.25 per hour (29 U.S.C. § 206), so the Massachusetts rate is the one that controls here. Voters rejected a 2024 ballot question that would have phased out the tipped service rate, and no minimum wage question is on the November 2026 ballot.
One change did take effect. Since October 29, 2025, employers with 25 or more employees in Massachusetts must include the pay range in job postings, give the pay range to an employee offered a promotion or transfer to a new position, and give it on request to an applicant or to an employee in that position. The range must be the salary or hourly range the employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay. Employers may not retaliate against you for asking for the range or complaining about a violation (G.L. c. 149, § 105F).
The tipped service rate: $6.75 plus tips, checked every shift
Employers of tipped workers may pay a cash wage of $6.75 per hour instead of $15.00 (G.L. c. 151, § 7). The difference is supposed to come from tips. Two protections matter here.
First, the math is done per shift, not per week or per pay period. The statute says the employer “shall calculate the amount required … at the completion of each shift worked.” If your $6.75 plus your tips for that shift do not add up to $15.00 for every hour you worked, the employer owes you the gap in your next paycheck. A busy Saturday night cannot be used to cover a dead Tuesday lunch.
Second, the service rate is only available if the employer told you about the rule and you keep all of your tips. Tip pooling is allowed, but only among employees who “customarily and regularly receive tips.” If a manager, owner or other non-tipped staff is taking a cut, the service rate no longer applies and the employer may owe you the full $15.00 for every hour. The Tips Act, G.L. c. 149, § 152A, has separate rules on who may share a pool. Ask a lawyer.
The service rate is still $6.75 in 2026. The statute has not been amended to phase it out.
Tips, tip pools and service charges
The Tips Act adds protections for wait staff, service employees and service bartenders (G.L. c. 149, § 152A).
- Who may share the pool. No one may require or allow you to share tips with anyone who is not a wait staff employee, service employee or service bartender. Wait staff and service employees are defined as people with no managerial responsibility.
- Service charges go to the staff. If a bill includes a service charge or tip, the whole amount must go to the staff who served, in proportion to the service each provided. An employer may add a separate house or administrative fee only if it tells the customer in writing that the fee is not a tip or service charge for the staff.
- Timing. Tips and service charges the employer collects must be paid to the staff by the end of the same business day, and never later than the normal pay deadline.
- Remedy. An employer that keeps or misdirects tips must repay them with 12 percent annual interest, and you may sue under the Wage Act within three years.
Agricultural workers
Farm work has its own minimum. A wage under $8.00 per hour in agriculture and farming is presumed oppressive and unreasonable, except for children 17 or younger and members of the employer’s immediate family (G.L. c. 151, § 2A).
Overtime: time and a half over 40 hours
Under state law, an employer may not work you more than 40 hours in a week unless you are paid at least one and one half times your regular rate for the hours over 40 (G.L. c. 151, § 1A). Commissions, drawing accounts, bonuses and other incentive pay based on sales or production are left out of the regular rate calculation. The rule is about hours in a week, not hours in a day. Twelve hours on Monday followed by three days off is not overtime.
The state statute has a long list of exempt jobs. Among others, it does not cover employees of restaurants, hotels and motels, gas stations, hospitals and nursing homes, nonprofit schools, seasonal businesses operating 120 days or less, farm laborers, outside salespeople, and bona fide executive, administrative or professional employees. Many of these workers are still covered by the federal overtime law, which has its own rules. If you work in one of these fields and are being denied overtime, ask a lawyer about your situation before you assume you have no claim.
An agreement to work for less than the overtime rate is not a defense (G.L. c. 151, § 1B). Your employer cannot have you sign away overtime. The Wage Act has the same rule: no employer may use a “special contract” or any other means to exempt itself from it (G.L. c. 149, § 148). In one unpublished decision, for example, the Appeals Court refused to enforce an agreement that made a worker pay the company’s fees for bringing wage or misclassification claims (Group Management 0002, LLC v. Yong, No. 23-P-1342 (Mass. App. Ct. Aug. 19, 2025) (Rule 23.0 decision)).
Called an independent contractor?
A label on a contract or a 1099 form does not decide your rights. For the wage and hour laws, anyone performing a service is an employee unless the company proves all three of these things (G.L. c. 149, § 148B):
- You are free from its control and direction in doing the work, both under your contract and in fact.
- The work is outside the usual course of the company’s business.
- You are customarily engaged in your own independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same kind.
If the company cannot prove all three, you are an employee, and the minimum wage, overtime and Wage Act rules apply to you. The fact that the company did not withhold taxes or pay unemployment or workers’ compensation premiums is not considered.
Earned sick time
Most Massachusetts workers earn at least one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, and may use up to 40 hours a year. If your employer has 11 or more employees, that time is paid. You can start using it 90 days after you start work (G.L. c. 149, § 148C). Sick time may be used to care for yourself or a child, spouse, parent or spouse’s parent, for routine medical appointments, and to address the effects of domestic violence, among other reasons.
When you must be paid
The Wage Act requires most hourly employees to be paid weekly or every two weeks, within six days after the end of the pay period if you work five or six days a week (G.L. c. 149, § 148). Certain salaried employees may be paid semi-monthly, and the window is seven days if you work seven days a week. If you are fired, you must be paid everything you are owed on the day you are fired. If you quit, you must be paid in full on the next regular payday. “Wages” include earned vacation and holiday pay promised under a written or oral agreement, and commissions once they are definitely determined and due.
Your employer’s records
Your employer must keep an accurate record of your name, address, job, pay each pay period, and hours worked each day and each week. Those records must be kept for at least three years, and you have the right to inspect your own records at reasonable times and places (G.L. c. 151, § 15).
What you can recover
The remedies are the reason employers settle these cases.
For unpaid minimum wage, the statute awards “treble damages, as liquidated damages,” plus costs and reasonable attorney’s fees (G.L. c. 151, § 20). For unpaid overtime, the same: three times the shortfall, plus costs and fees (G.L. c. 151, § 1B). For late pay, unpaid final wages, vacation pay or commissions under the Wage Act, a prevailing employee “shall be awarded treble damages” plus costs and fees (G.L. c. 149, § 150). The word is “shall.” A judge cannot reduce it because the employer made an honest mistake.
Paying you after you file does not erase the claim. In a case on a Wage Act complaint, the employer may not use payment of wages after the complaint was brought as a defense (G.L. c. 149, § 150).
You may sue for yourself or on behalf of coworkers in the same position.
How to start a claim
Wage Act claims begin with a complaint to the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division. You may file your own lawsuit 90 days after that filing, or sooner if the Attorney General gives written permission (G.L. c. 149, § 150). The deadline to sue is three years from the violation, and the clock pauses while your complaint sits with the Attorney General (G.L. c. 149, § 150 for Wage Act claims; G.L. c. 151, § 20A for minimum wage and overtime claims).
Your employer may not punish you for asking about your rights or filing a complaint (G.L. c. 149, § 148A). Firing, cutting hours or changing your schedule in response is a separate violation.
Common mistakes
- Waiting for the employer to fix it. Every pay period you wait can push older violations past the three-year limit.
- Signing a release without advice. An agreement to accept less than the minimum wage or overtime rate is not a defense, but a settlement release can still cause problems. Get advice first.
- Relying only on the employer’s records. Keep your own log of hours and tips, starting today.
Recent Massachusetts appeals decisions
These recent Massachusetts appellate decisions show how courts are handling these issues. Unpublished Rule 23.0 decisions are persuasive only, not binding precedent.
- Group Management 0002, LLC v. Yong (Appeals Court, August 19, 2025; unpublished): A contract making a worker pay fees for bringing a wage claim violates the Wage Act and is unenforceable.
- Commonwealth v. BPI Construction Management, Inc. (Appeals Court, June 20, 2025; unpublished): A subcontractor that filed false certified payrolls owed about $927,000 under the False Claims Act. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
- Vivas v. EZCater (Appeals Court, July 8, 2026; unpublished): Firing an employee for accessing a restricted salary database was not Equal Pay Act retaliation, because she was not fired for discussing pay.
- Woodward v. Board of Registration in Nursing (Appeals Court, December 31, 2025; unpublished): An employer that completed a good faith pay equity self-evaluation won summary judgment on a worker’s equal pay claims.
See more decisions: Massachusetts appeals decisions in 2026 and Massachusetts appeals decisions in 2025.
What to do now
Keep every pay stub, schedule and tip record. Write down your hours each day. If you are paid the service rate, note your tips for each shift. If you are fired, note the date and when you actually got your last check. Then talk to a lawyer.
Frequently asked questions
My employer says I am salaried, so I do not get overtime. Is that true?
Not necessarily. Salary alone does not exempt you. The exemption depends on your actual job duties and your pay level, and the state and federal tests differ. Ask a lawyer to look at what you actually do all day.
I was paid late but eventually paid in full. Do I still have a claim?
Possibly. The Wage Act sets payment deadlines, and a prevailing employee is entitled to treble damages for lost wages. Whether late payment alone supports a recovery depends on the facts. Ask a lawyer.
My boss takes a share of the tip pool. Is that allowed?
Under G.L. c. 151, § 7, tip pooling is permitted only among employees who customarily and regularly receive tips. If someone outside that group is taking tips, the employer may owe you the full $15.00 for every hour.
How far back can I go?
Three years from each violation (G.L. c. 149, § 150 for Wage Act claims; G.L. c. 151, § 20A for minimum wage and overtime). Do not wait. Every pay period that passes beyond three years is money you cannot recover.
Will the minimum wage go up in 2027?
Not under current law. The statute sets the rate at $15.00 with no scheduled increase. Any change would require new legislation or a future ballot question.
The restaurant adds a service charge to every bill. Do I get it?
If the charge is a service charge or tip, the whole amount must go to the staff who served. The employer may keep a separate house or administrative fee only if it tells customers in writing that the fee is not a tip or service charge for the staff (G.L. c. 149, § 152A).
I am paid on a 1099. Can I still bring a wage claim?
Yes, if you are really an employee. The company must prove all three parts of the independent contractor test, or you are treated as an employee under the wage laws (G.L. c. 149, § 148B).
Do I have to be paid when I am out sick?
If your employer has 11 or more employees, yes, for up to 40 hours a year of earned sick time. Smaller employers must still let you earn and use up to 40 hours of unpaid sick time (G.L. c. 149, § 148C).
If your paycheck does not add up, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or contact us online.
