Massachusetts no longer requires retail employers to pay time and a half for Sunday or holiday work. That requirement was phased down starting in 2019 and ended on January 1, 2023. But two things survived. Retail workers still cannot be forced to work Sundays or most holidays, and cannot be punished for saying no. And any premium pay your employer promised in a contract, handbook or pay plan is still a “wage” the Wage Act will enforce with triple damages. Overtime for hours over 40 never went away.
Here is where each piece stands.
What the old law said
For decades, G.L. c. 136, § 6(50), the clause that lets stores open on Sunday, also required larger retailers to pay employees at least one and one half times their regular rate for Sunday hours. A companion rule did the same for certain holidays. A 2018 law (St. 2018, c. 121) phased that premium out. The Sunday rate dropped to 1.4 times the regular rate on January 1, 2019 and was eliminated effective January 1, 2023. The Supreme Judicial Court laid out that history in Sutton v. Jordan’s Furniture, Inc., 493 Mass. 728 (2024).
What the law says now
The current text of G.L. c. 136, § 6(50) still allows stores to open on Sunday and still contains a worker protection, but says nothing about premium pay. The clause now reads that no employee engaged in Sunday retail work “shall be required to perform such work, and refusal to work for any retail establishment on Sunday shall not be grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge, reduction in hours, or any other penalty.”
That protection applies to any retail establishment. The old seven-employee threshold that limited the pay requirement does not appear in the current Sunday clause.
Holidays: same story
Retail stores may open on Memorial Day, Juneteenth, July Fourth and Labor Day (G.L. c. 136, § 16). A store that employs more than seven people, including the owner, may not require an employee to work those days, and refusal is not grounds for “discrimination, dismissal, discharge, reduction in hours or any other penalty.” There is no premium pay requirement in the current text.
Retail stores may also operate on New Year’s Day, on Veterans Day after 1 p.m., and on the second Monday in October after noon (G.L. c. 136, § 13). The same rule applies: no employee may be required to work, and refusal cannot be penalized. Again, no premium pay.
These statutes are about retail. If you work in a restaurant, a hospital, a warehouse or an office, the chapter 136 voluntariness rules are not written for you. Ask a lawyer about what applies to your industry.
The enforcement gap
The Sunday rule and the § 13 holiday rule are enforced by the Attorney General, and the penalty is a fine of up to $1,000 (G.L. c. 149, § 180A). The statute does not spell out a penalty for the § 16 holidays. The statute does not spell out back pay or reinstatement for a worker fired for refusing a Sunday shift. That does not mean you have no case. It means the remedy may run through other laws, and the facts matter. Talk to a lawyer before you decide it is not worth pursuing.
Premium pay you were promised is still owed
Many retailers kept paying Sunday or holiday premiums after 2023 because it was in a union contract, an offer letter, a handbook or a commission plan. If your employer promised a premium and then quietly stopped paying it, or paid it some weeks and not others, that is a Wage Act problem.
The Wage Act requires employers to pay all “wages earned” on time (G.L. c. 149, § 148). In Sutton, the SJC confirmed that “Section 148 applies to all wages earned, including those prescribed by statute,” and that a worker can use the Wage Act’s private right of action to collect pay another law or agreement requires. The statute also expressly defines wages to include holiday and vacation payments “due an employee under an oral or written agreement.”
A prevailing employee gets three times the unpaid wages, plus costs and attorney’s fees, and the court has no discretion to reduce it (G.L. c. 149, § 150). The deadline is three years from each violation, and you must file with the Attorney General first and wait 90 days before suing unless the Attorney General lets you go sooner.
Pre-2023 claims may still be alive
If you worked Sundays at a retailer in 2023 or later, you have no statutory premium claim. But the three-year limitations period, and the pause while an Attorney General complaint is pending, mean some claims for the final phase-down years may still be reachable. In Sutton, the class recovered Sunday pay for 2016 through 2019, with treble damages. Ask a lawyer to run the dates.
Overtime never changed
None of this affects overtime. Most employees are still owed one and one half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a week (G.L. c. 151, § 1A). The statute exempts some industries from the state rule, including restaurants, hotels and gas stations, but retail is not on that list. Unpaid overtime carries treble damages and fees (G.L. c. 151, § 1B).
One wrinkle is written into § 1A. Where a retail employee is paid time and a half for Sunday or holiday hours under chapter 136, those hours are excluded from the overtime calculation. Since the statute no longer requires that premium, the exclusion has little work to do today. If your employer counts Sunday hours differently for overtime, ask a lawyer to review the pay stubs.
What to do now
Pull your pay stubs for the last three years. See whether any Sunday or holiday premium was paid and when it stopped. Find any document that promised a premium: offer letter, handbook, union contract, commission plan. Keep schedules showing you were put on Sunday shifts after you declined. Then call a lawyer.
FAQ
Can my manager fire me for refusing to work Sundays?
If you work for a retail establishment, G.L. c. 136, § 6(50) says refusal to work Sunday “shall not be grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge, reduction in hours, or any other penalty.” The remedies for a violation are limited in the statute itself, so get advice quickly.
Do I get time and a half for working Thanksgiving or Christmas?
Not under state law in 2026. Thanksgiving and Christmas are not among the holidays the retail opening statutes list, so most stores are closed anyway. If your employer promised holiday premium pay in writing or by practice, that promise may be enforceable as wages.
My employer paid Sunday premiums until mid-2024 and then stopped without telling anyone. Is that legal?
It may not be. A premium an employer agreed to pay is a wage once earned, and the Wage Act requires it to be paid on time. Ask a lawyer to look at the agreement or policy.
If your Sunday or holiday pay disappeared, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006.
