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

© 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. | 65 Massachusetts and Federal Sub-Minimum Wage Requirements Massachusetts Law Federal Law Tipped Employees See Tips and Service Charges, Section VIII Student Workers Requires waiver from the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards To qualify, the student must fit into one of the following categories: 1. Hospital or laboratory 2. Enrolled in educational institution and employed by the same 3. Summer camp counselors or counselor trainees 4. Secondary school students working on hospital wards or college dining rooms/dorms Students who meet Massachusetts law requirements are likely to satisfy the federal requirements CampCounselors or Counselor Trainees Camp must be seasonal (i.e., operate for fewer than 120 days per year) Employees of “seasonal establishments” as defined by the FLSA are exempt from the federal minimum wage requirements 363 Workers with Disabilities Certificate from the Director of the Department of Labor Standards Individuals qualify if their earning capacity is impaired Employer must first obtain Certificate from federal DOL Certificate from the DOL Wage and Hour Division Individuals qualify if their “productive capacity is impaired” D. The Prevailing Wage for Work on Public Contracts Both Massachusetts and the federal government set special “prevailing” wage rates for employees working on public works contracts. 364 These wage rates always exceed the minimum wage— sometimes by a very large margin. In Massachusetts, when employees perform work at two different wage rates during a single week—as often occurs where employees perform prevailing wage work at multiple locations, in multiple job classifications, at different municipalities, or when operating different types of construction equipment—overtime must be calculated using a regular rate that is a weighted average of those different pay rates, as discussed further in Section 363 29 U.S.C. § 213(a)(3). 364 40 U.S.C. § 276a; 29 C.F.R. §§ 1, 3, 5-7; M.G.L. ch. 149, § 26-27H.