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

122 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. © 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP • Garageme n 689 • Certain janitors or caretakers of residential property • Golf caddies • Child actors or performers • Newsboys • Fishermen • Switchboard operators in a public telephone exchange • Seamen • Agricultural workers 690 While some of these exemptions have federal analogs, the requirements may differ under state and federal law, and Massachusetts employers must ensure that they meet both the state and federal exemptions before denying overtime wages to their employees. VII. MASSACHUSETTS EQUAL PAY ACT The Massachusetts Equal Pay Act (MEPA) has been in effect since 1945, but there was minimal civil litigation enforcing it. Prior to July 1, 2018, the law was similar to the federal Equal Pay Act, which requires equal pay for “equal work.” 691 Courts therefore did not permit employees to pursue complaints by comparing themselves to employees in other jobs with similar duties or qualifications. 692 689 A “garageman” is “any worker performing repair work on automobiles—be it a stand-alone repair shop or one that is part of a larger establishment such as a car dealership . . . .” DLS Opinion Let ter MW-2002-014 (Apr. 30, 2002). 690 See M.G.L. ch. 151, § 1A . The agricultural exempt ion applies to laborers “engaged in agriculture and farming on a farm.” M.G.L. ch. 151, § 1A (19). M.G.L. ch. 151, § 2, in turn, defines “ [a]gricultural and farm work” as “ labor on a farm and the growing and harvest ing of agricultural, floricultural and hort icultural commodit ies,” “unless context clearly requires otherwise.” Based on this language, the SJC recent ly concluded that the agricultural exempt ion does not apply to post -harvesting act ivit ies, such as cleaning, sort ing, or packaging of previously grown or harvested agricultural commodit ies. See Arias-Villano v. Chang & Sons Enter., Inc., 481 Mass. 625, 627-31 (2019). 691 29 U.S.C. § 206(d). 692 See, e.g., Wojciechowski v. Nat’l Oilwell Varco, L.P ., 763 F. Supp. 2d 832 (S.D. Tex. 2011) (concluding female sales managers were not comparable under Equal Pay Act to male account managers who had different dut ies); Renstrom v. Nash Finch Co. , 787 F. Supp. 2d 961 (D. Minn. 2011) (concluding female grocery buyer did not perform equal work as males in same posit ion who were responsible for more dist ribut ion centers).