Sundays and Holidays (M.G.L.c. 136, ss. 1 - 16) (Office of the Attorney General)

• For retailers Sunday work is voluntary; it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against an employee who refuses to work on Sunday. (M.G.L.c. 136, s. 6(50))


• Retailers may open at Sundays and legal holidays without a local police permit. (M.G.L.c. 136, s. 7)


• Note: the requirement to pay Sunday and holiday hours at the rate of time and one half was fully phased out in Massachusetts as of January 1, 2023. (Massachusetts Law About Overtime)


• Manufacturers, except those with continuous operations, must obtain permits to operate on Sunday or holidays by filing a written request with the Chief of Police of their town. (M.G.L.c. 136, s. 7)

• Work on any holiday is voluntary. Employees are protected from retaliation for refusing to work on legal holidays. (M.G.L.c. 136, ss. 13 & 16)


• Retailers may open at anytime on Memorial Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, July Fourth and Labor Day. On Columbus Day they may open after noon and on Veterans Day after 1:00 p.m. (M.G.L.c. 136, s. 16)


• Legal holidays in Massachusetts include New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, June Nineteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. (M.G.L.c. 4, s. 7)


• All employees who work Sunday, with certain spedified exceptions, must be given one full day of rest every seven days. (M.G.L.c. 149, ss. 47 & 48)


• In Sullivan v. Sleepy's LLC, 482 Mass. 227 (2019), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that (1) employers must make separate and additional payments to one hundred percent commission sales employees to compensate them for every hour they worked over forty hours or on Sunday; and (2) draws and commissions cannot be retroactively allocated to meet these requirements even if those draws and commissions equaled or exceeded the minimum wage for the employees' first forty hours of work and one and one-half times the minimum wage for all hours worked over forty hours or on Sunday. [Note: the requirement to pay Sunday and holiday hours at the rate of time and one half was fully phased out in Massachusetts as of January 1, 2023. (Massachusetts Law About Overtime)]


• This statute is enforced by the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General. Employees whose rights under this statute have been violated can file an online complaint under "Non-payment of wages" and receive from the Attorney General a "private right of action" letter, allowing the employee so aggrieved who prevails in court to be awarded treble damages, reasonable attorneys' fees and the cost of litigation. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court confirmed that the Sunday pay statute is enforceable under the Massachusetts Wage Act's private right of action. Sutton v. Jordan's Furniture, Inc., 493 Mass. 728 (2024) Therefore an employee must bring such an action within three years of any violation. The three year limitation period, however, is tolled from the date that the employee or a similarly situated employee files a complaint with the Attorney General until the date that the Attorney General issues a letter authorizing a private right of action or the date that an enforcement action by the Attorney General becomes final.



 





 

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