Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XX Chapter 147
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 147, § 17B (2026)

Five day and forty hour week; compensation for additional service; reduction in compensation

✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MAmalegislature.gov (official) JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Section 17B. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the services of all regular or permanent police officers of every city and town which accepts this section shall be restricted to five days and to forty hours in any one week; provided, that service in excess of the aforesaid days and hours may be authorized by the police commissioner, chief, superintendent or other officer or board at the head of the police department of any such city or town and the officer performing such additional service shall be compensated at the hourly rate of his regular compensation for his average weekly hours of regular duty or such higher rate as may be determined by the person or persons authorized to establish pay scales in the respective police departments. The compensation payable to any such police officer shall not be reduced by reason of the acceptance of this section. This section shall take effect in a city having a Plan E or Plan D charter when accepted by the affirmative vote of a majority of the city council and in the case of other cities by vote of the city council, subject to the provisions of its charter, and in a town by a majority vote at the annual town meeting.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases, 1965–1995 · leading case: Foley v. Town of Northbridge, 440 N.E.2d 1293 (Mass. App. Ct. 1982).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Foley v. Town of Northbridge, 440 N.E.2d 1293 (Mass. App. Ct. 1982). · cites it 2× “It states that when an eligible officer is paid for overtime service pursuant to G. L. c. 147, § 17B, career incentive increases are included in the computation by reason of that increase in salary under § 108L.”
Erickson v. City of Waltham, 314 N.E.2d 139 (Mass. App. Ct. 1974). “The master found that the city in fact computed “regular compensation for his average weekly hours of regular duty” (G. L. c. 147, § 17B, and ordinance No. 22456), and “the base pay for a regular working week” (ordinance No.”
Bartley v. Town of Watertown, 216 N.E.2d 89 (Mass. 1966). “the chief of police” with compensation fixed by the selectmen as under § 97; (c) G. L. c. 147, § 17B (“services of all regular *625 or permanent police officers .”
Dagan v. Jewish Cmty. Hous. for the Elderly, 5 Mass. L. Rptr. 36 (Mass. Super. Ct. 1995). “436 (1974), the court held that police officers’ lunch hours, during which they were subject to call, were not subject to G.L.c. 147, §17B, the statute governing overtime pay for police officers.”
Fransen v. Chief of Police, 212 N.E.2d 459 (Mass. 1965). “Fransen is administratrix) are entitled to additional pay for hours in *776 excess of forty hours (but less than forty-five hours) a week worked by them prior to March 1,1961, when the town adopted G. L. c. 147, § 17B (inserted by St. 1956, c.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.