Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XXI Chapter 151
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A (2026)

Overtime pay; excluded employments

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 1A. Except as otherwise provided in this section, no employer in the commonwealth shall employ any of his employees in an occupation, as defined in section two, for a work week longer than forty hours, unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of forty hours at a rate not less than one and one half times the regular rate at which he is employed. Sums paid as commissions, drawing accounts, bonuses, or other incentive pay based on sales or production, shall be excluded in computing the regular rate and the overtime rate of compensation under the provisions of this section. In any work week in which an employee of a retail business is employed on a Sunday or certain holidays at a rate of one and one-half times the regular rate of compensation at which he is employed as provided in chapter 136, the hours so worked on Sunday or certain holidays shall be excluded from the calculation of overtime pay as required by this section, unless a collectively bargained labor agreement provides otherwise. Except as otherwise provided in the second sentence, nothing in this section shall be construed to otherwise limit an employee's right to receive one and one-half times the regular rate of compensation for an employee on Sundays or certain holidays or to limit the voluntary nature of work on Sundays or certain holidays, as provided for in said chapter 136.

This section shall not be applicable to any employee who is employed:—

(1) as a janitor or caretaker of residential property, who when furnished with living quarters is paid a wage of not less than thirty dollars per week.

(2) as a golf caddy, newsboy or child actor or performer.

(3) as a bona fide executive, or administrative or professional person or qualified trainee for such position earning more than eighty dollars per week.

(4) as an outside salesman or outside buyer.

(5) as a learner, apprentice or handicapped person under a special license as provided in section nine.

(6) as a fisherman or as a person employed in the catching or taking of any kind of fish, shellfish or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life.

(7) as a switchboard operator in a public telephone exchange.

(8) as a driver or helper on a truck with respect to whom the Interstate Commerce Commission has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred and four of the motor carrier act of nineteen hundred and thirty-five, or as employee of an employer subject to the provisions of Part 1 of the Interstate Commerce Act or subject to title II of the Railway Labor Act.

(9) in a business or specified operation of a business which is carried on during a period or accumulated periods not in excess of one hundred and twenty days in any year, and determined by the commissioner to be seasonal in nature.

(10) as a seaman.

(11) by an employer licensed and regulated pursuant to chapter one hundred and fifty-nine A.

(12) in a hotel, motel, motor court or like establishment.

(13) in a gasoline station.

(14) in a restaurant.

(15) as a garageman, which term shall not include a parking lot attendant.

(16) in a hospital, sanitorium, convalescent or nursing home, infirmary, rest home or charitable home for the aged.

(17) in a non-profit school or college.

(18) in a summer camp operated by a non-profit charitable corporation.

(19) as a laborer engaged in agriculture and farming on a farm.

(20) in an amusement park containing a permanent aggregation of amusement devices, games, shows, and other attractions operated during a period or accumulated periods not in excess of one hundred and fifty days in any one year.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 134 cases (23 in the last 5 years), 1965–2026 · leading case: Casseus v. E. Bus Co., 89 N.E.3d 1184 (Mass. 2018).
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Casseus v. E. Bus Co., 89 N.E.3d 1184 (Mass. 2018). · cites it 27× “G. L. c. 151, § 1A. The statute, however, "shall not be applicable to any **787 employee who is employed .”
Mullally v. Waste Mgmt. of Massachusetts, Inc., 452 Mass. 526 (Mass. 2008). · cites it 21× “149, § 27F, which mandates a particular minimum wage for certain public works contracts, and G. L. c. 151, § 1A, which governs overtime compensation.”
Goodrow v. Lane Bryant, Inc., 732 N.E.2d 289 (Mass. 2000). · cites it 14× “(Lane Bryant), for failing to pay overtime compensation at the rate of one and one-half times her hourly rate for the hours she worked in excess of forty in any work week, contrary to G. L. c. 151, § 1A. She also sought individually triple damages under G.”
Somers v. Converged Access, Inc., 911 N.E.2d 739 (Mass. 2009). · cites it 7× “Individuals who provide services to an employer as an employee (rather than as an independent contractor) fall within the protection of the wage act and G. L. c. 151, § 1A (overtime). The wage act requires employers timely to “pay weekly or bi-weekly each such employee the wages…”
Swift v. AutoZone, Inc., 441 Mass. 443 (Mass. 2004). · cites it 11× “” 5 On February 5, 2002, the plaintiffs, who are hourly, nonex *445 empt employees who work in two of AutoZone’s retail stores, filed a class action complaint in the Superior Court seeking a judgment declaring that AutoZone’s new policy violated G. L. c. 151, § 1A, injunctive…”
Arias-Villano v. Chang & Sons Enter., Inc., 118 N.E.3d 835 (Mass. 2019). · cites it 14× “**626 The issue in this case is whether the plaintiffs, who work for the defendants' company that grows, harvests, packages, and distributes bean sprouts, are entitled to overtime pay for the hours they worked over forty each week under G. L. c. 151, § 1A (overtime statute). A…”
Crocker v. Townsend Oil Co., 464 Mass. 1 (Mass. 2012). · cites it 5× “*6 To answer this question, we must address three subissues: (1) whether an employee is entitled to maintain an action for unpaid overtime under the Wage Act (governed by a three-year statute of limitations), rather than under the overtime provisions of G. L. c. 151, § 1A…”
Sullivan v. Sleepy's LLC, 121 N.E.3d 1210 (Mass. 2019). · cites it 6× “More particularly, we consider whether the defendant employers satisfied their obligations under these statutes when they paid draws or commissions that always equaled or exceeded the minimum wage for the plaintiff employees' first forty hours of work and one and one-half times…”
Cavallaro v. Umass Mem'l Healthcare, Inc., 678 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2012). · cites it 3× “149, § 148 (Count 1); -violation of the overtime provision of the Massachusetts Fair Minimum Wage Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A (Count 2); -breach of contract or implied contract (Counts 3, 4 and 5); -money had and received; quantum meruit/unjust enrichment (Counts 6 and…”
Taylor v. E. Connection Operating, Inc., 465 Mass. 191 (Mass. 2013). · cites it 5× “149, § 148, the Massachusetts wage statute, and G. L. c. 151, § 1A, the Massachusetts overtime statute (collectively, the Massachusetts wage statutes).”
Chuan Wang v. Palmisano, 157 F. Supp. 3d 306 (S.D.N.Y. 2016). “8 (2012) (noting that “a cause of action for the nonpayment of overtime [under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A] must be brought within two years of the date it accrues[,]” but that “an employee claiming to be aggrieved by a violation of [ Mass.”
O'Brien v. Lifestyle Transp., Inc., 956 F. Supp. 2d 300 (D. Mass. 2013). · cites it 10× “O’Brien’s position is supported by an opinion letter issued by the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety, the division of the Massachusetts Department of Labor tasked with imple *308 menting Mass. Gen. L. c. 151 § 1A, which reads in part, as follows: You have asked the…”
Show all 134 citing cases →
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A(1) — 2 cases
Quazi v. Barnstable Cnty., 877 N.E.2d 273 (Mass. App. Ct. 2007).
Dagan v. Jewish Cmty. Hous. for the Elderly, 5 Mass. L. Rptr. 36 (Mass. Super. Ct. 1995).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A(12) — 1 case
McDonald v. Par Hosp., LLC, 111 N.E.3d 305 (Mass. App. Ct. 2018).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A(14) — 2 cases
Chavira v. OS Restaurant Servs., LLC (D. Mass. 2019).
Cao v. Hungry Pot Dartmouth Inc (D. Mass. 2025).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A(15) — 1 case
Lambirth v. Advanced Auto, Inc., 140 F. Supp. 3d 108 (D. Mass. 2015).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A(16) — 6 cases
Cavallaro v. Umass Mem'l Healthcare, Inc., 678 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2012). “149, § 148 (Count 1); -violation of the overtime provision of the Massachusetts Fair Minimum Wage Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A (Count 2); -breach of contract or implied contract (Counts 3, 4 and 5); -money had and received; quantum meruit/unjust enrichment (Counts 6 and…”
Rueli v. Baystate Health, Inc., 835 F.3d 53 (1st Cir. 2016).
Norceide v. Cambridge Health All., 814 F. Supp. 2d 17 (D. Mass. 2011).
Tortolano v. Lemuel Shattuck Hosp., 109 N.E.3d 516 (Mass. App. Ct. 2018).
KIm v. Detroit Med. Informatics, LLC d/b/a DMI (E.D. Mich. 2019).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A(20) — 1 case
Garcia v. E.J. Amusements of New Hampshire, Inc., 98 F. Supp. 3d 277 (D. Mass. 2015).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A(3) — 7 cases
Litz v. Saint Consulting Grp., Inc., 772 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2014).
Benedict v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 314 F.R.D. 457 (N.D. Cal. 2016).
Quazi v. Barnstable Cnty., 877 N.E.2d 273 (Mass. App. Ct. 2007).
Morrison v. Ocean State Jobbers, Inc., 290 F.R.D. 347 (D. Conn. 2013).
Drive-O-Rama, Inc. v. Attorney Gen., 829 N.E.2d 1153 (Mass. App. Ct. 2005).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A(4) — 1 case
Kyana Jinks, Antwione Taylor, Lee Tremblay, & Others, Individually & on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated v. Credico (Usa) LLC, Dfw Consultants, Inc., & Jason Ward (Mass. Super. Ct. 2020).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151, § 1A(8) — 5 cases
O'Brien v. Lifestyle Transp., Inc., 956 F. Supp. 2d 300 (D. Mass. 2013). “O’Brien’s position is supported by an opinion letter issued by the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety, the division of the Massachusetts Department of Labor tasked with imple *308 menting Mass. Gen. L. c. 151 § 1A, which reads in part, as follows: You have asked the…”
Brooks v. Halsted Commc'ns, Ltd., 620 F. Supp. 2d 193 (D. Mass. 2009).
Canales (D. Mass. 2026).
Amero v. Townsend Oil Co., 25 Mass. L. Rptr. 115 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2008).
Amero v. Townsend Oil Co., 31 Mass. L. Rptr. 111 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2009).
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