Minimum Wage Increase

As set forth by legislation passed in 2018, the minimum wage in Massachusetts will increase to $14.25 per hour on January 1, 2022. This amounts to a 75-cent jump from the current minimum wage of $13.50 per hour and is the second to last scheduled increase under current law. The minimum wage will increase again on January 1, 2023 to $15.00 per hour. As a reminder, employers must display this “Wage & Hour Laws” poster published by the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General in a prominent location for all employees to see, which notifies employees of the minimum wage and summarizes other Massachusetts wage and hour laws.

Under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151 § 1, “any employer” that employs an individual in Massachusetts must pay that individual at least the minimum wage unless an exemption applies. Here are some of these exemptions:

• Workers being rehabilitated or trained under rehabilitation or training programs in charitable, educational or religious institutions;

• Seasonal camp counselors and counselor trainees;

• Members of religious orders;

• Outside sales workers who regularly sell a product or products away from their employer's place of business and who do not make daily reports or visits to the office or plant of their employer;

• Agricultural and farm workers (they must be paid at least $8.00 per hour though); and

• Tipped employees.

The exemption for tipped employees is a rather unique one and is worth discussing. Under Massachusetts law,...

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