Mass-Peculiarities: An Employers Guide to Wage & Hour Law in the Bay State 2022 Edition

10 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. © 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP employers operating on Sunday also apply to retail employers operating on the holidays listed here. 24 Other holidays have additional requirements unique to retail employers. For example, while New Year’s Day is not subject to the closure requirements, retail employers who operate that day must abide by the premium pay and voluntariness requirements. 25 Similarly, retail employers may only operate after 12 p.m. on Columbus Day and after 1 p.m. on Veterans Day, unless statewide approval has been granted by the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards (DLS) 26 and the retailer has obtained a local police permit. 27 Retailers may, however, open after 12 p.m. on Columbus Day and after 1 p.m. on Veterans Day without DLS approval or a permit. Retail employers must follow the premium pay and voluntariness requirements for all work performed on those days, regardless of the time the work is performed. 28 Retail businesses may not open at all on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day without a permit from the DLS, which will only issue such permits on a statewide basis for all retailers. 29 Historically, the agency has not authorized the issuance of such permits and has taken the position that retailers may not open for business on those days. As in the case of premium pay for Sunday work, Massachusetts is phasing out the premium pay requirement for holidays. 30 In 2019, premium pay for Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day began decreasing incrementally each year, consistently with the Sunday premium pay phase-out, and will continue until there is no premium pay requirement. 31 However, the premium pay rate for New Year’s Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day remained at one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate in 2019 and 2020. A statutory amendment in 2020 extended the phase out of the premium pay requirement to New Year’s Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day, effective January 1, 2021. 32 Effective in 2021, Juneteenth Independence Day was added as a state holiday subject to the Blue Laws, and it is also subject to the premium pay phase-out. 33 24 M.G.L. ch. 136, §§ 6(50), 13, 16. 25 M.G.L. ch. 136, § 13. 26 Massachuset t s General Laws Chapter 136, Sect ion 7, gives the DLS the authority to grant police department officials or city selectmen the power to issue permit s allowing Sunday work. 27 M.G.L. ch. 136, § 15. See also DLS, Statewide Approval for Early Openings on Columbus & Veterans Day 2020 (Aug. 17, 2020), available a t ht tps://www.mass.gov/doc/statewide-approval-for-early-openings-on-columbus-veterans-day-2020/download (last visited July 10, 2021); Office of Massachuset t s At torney General, Massachusetts Blue Laws: Overview , available at ht tps://www.mass.gov/guides/working-on-sundays-and-holidays-blue-laws ( hereinafter, “ A.G. Blue Laws Overview ”) (last visited July 11, 2021). 28 M.G.L. ch. 136, § 13. See also A.G. Blue Laws Overview , supra note 26. 29 M.G.L. ch. 136, § 15. 30 See St . 2018, ch. 121, §§ 15-16. 31 Id . 32 St . 2020, ch. 358, §§ 74–75. See also A.G. Blue Laws Overview, supra note 26. 33 St . 2020, ch. 124, §§ 9-10.