New Minimum Wage Law—and Poster—for Massachusetts

The State of Massachusetts passed a new law on June 2018 that calls for stepped minimum wage increases to $15.00 over 5 years, beginning January 1, 2019. The law also provides Paid Family and Medical Leave, which won’t go into effect until July 1, 2019.

Minimum Wage—2019 and Beyond

The updated Wage & Hour Laws notice, which has a revision date of 10/2018, includes the following minimum wage increases:

  • Effective 1, 2019, the minimum wage will be $12.00 per hour and the hourly tipped wage will be $4.35.
  • Effective 1, 2020, the minimum wage will be $12.75 per hour and the hourly tipped wage will be $4.95.
  • Effective 1, 2021, the minimum wage will be $13.50 per hour and the hourly tipped wage will be $5.55.
  • Effective 1, 2022, the minimum wage will be $14.25 per hour and the hourly tipped wage will be $6.15.
  • Effective 1, 2023, the minimum wage will be $15.00 per hour and the hourly tipped wage will be $6.75.

Discrimination Update

In addition to information about the Massachusetts minimum wage, the Wage & Hour Laws notice includes a host of information for employers and employees related to workers’ rights, paid and unpaid sick leave, domestic violence leave, and more.

In the “Employers Must Not Discriminate” section, the phrase the opposite sex has been replaced with a different gender in the following sentence:

“Subject to certain limited exceptions, employers must not pay one employee less for doing the same or comparable work as another employee of a different gender.”

Paid Family and Medical Leave

Employers should note that while the Paid Family and Medical Leave is not in effect until July of 2019, the law requires employers to post the workplace notice—to be created by the Department of Family and Medical Leave—by 7/1/19, and at the same time provide written notice to employees advising them of their rights and benefits under the law.

Our Research Team will be watching closely for the workplace notice to be released.

Compliance Made Easy!

Because we are expecting another change for Massachusetts, we encourage you to order our 1-Year Compliance Plan so that you will automatically receive the updated Massachusetts poster as soon as it is available. And because we provide free poster updates for mandatory changes, no matter how many occur during the 12-month period, you can always count on Poster Compliance Center to keep your business in compliance.