Massachusetts wage claims: how to get your unpaid pay

How to file a wage claim in Massachusetts

1. Gather your records

   Dates and hours worked, your pay rate, pay stubs or bank deposits, texts or schedules, and the employer's name and address.

2. Ask in writing first (optional)

   A demand letter gives your employer a deadline to pay and shows you tried. Use the free letter on this page.

3. File with Office of the Attorney General

   File a free online workplace complaint with the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division and choose 'Non-Payment of Wage' (this covers minimum wage, unpaid hours, overtime, tips, misclassification and sick time). You can file anonymously, and you can call the Fair Labor Hotline at 617-727-3465 if you need another format. The office may take several weeks to decide whether to investigate; it may pursue your wages, cite or prosecute the employer, or give you a 'private right of action' letter so you can sue yourself. If you want to sue on your own, mark on the form that you are requesting a 'private right of action'; you should hear back in 3 to 4 weeks, and you automatically have the right to sue 90 days after filing.

4. Watch the deadline

   3 years after the violation to sue; the clock stops while your complaint is pending with the Attorney General (M.G.L. c. 149, § 150). You must usually file with the AG first and wait 90 days (or get written permission sooner).

Minimum wage and overtime in Massachusetts

Massachusetts' minimum wage is $15.00 an hour for most workers (M.G.L. c. 151, § 1). By law it must always be at least 50 cents above the federal minimum. Farm workers have a lower state minimum of $8.00 an hour. No increase is scheduled in the law.

Minimum wage (2026)

$15.00

Tipped cash wage

$6.75

Overtime

Most workers must get 1.5 times their regular rate for each hour over 40 in a week. There is no daily overtime. If you are paid the tipped 'service rate,' overtime is 1.5 times the full $15.00 minimum wage, not the service rate. Some jobs are exempt under state law (M.G.L. c. 151, § 1A) but may still get federal overtime.

Paydays: Hourly workers must be paid weekly or every two weeks, within 6 days after the pay period ends (7 days if you work 7 days a week or fewer than 5 days). Salaried workers may be paid every two weeks or twice a month. Earned vacation and promised holiday pay count as wages. (M.G.L. c. 149, § 148)

Your final paycheck in Massachusetts

If you are fired or laid off

In full on your last day of work (the day you are fired or laid off).

If you quit

In full on the next regular payday; if there is no regular payday, by the following Saturday.

Law

M.G.L. c. 149, § 148

When was your final paycheck due in Massachusetts?

Enter how your job ended and your last day of work. We show your state’s rule and, when the rule is a simple number of days or your next payday, the date.

Penalties your employer may owe

If you win in court, the employer must pay three times your lost wages and benefits (treble damages) as liquidated damages, plus court costs and reasonable attorney fees (M.G.L. c. 149, § 150). The Attorney General can also issue civil citations with penalties or bring criminal charges (M.G.L. c. 149, §§ 27C, 148).

Retaliation and immigration status

Your employer may not punish, fire or discriminate against you for seeking your wage rights, complaining to the Attorney General or anyone else, helping an investigation, or testifying (M.G.L. c. 149, § 148A). You can sue for this too (M.G.L. c. 149, § 150).

Federal law also makes it illegal to fire or punish you for filing a wage complaint or cooperating in an investigation (US DOL Fact Sheet #77A).

The US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division enforces federal wage law without regard to immigration status, and its services are free and confidential whether you are documented or not (US DOL).

Deductions and tips

Employers cannot take money from your pay unless the law allows it or you asked for it for your own benefit, and cannot charge you for ordinary business costs like tools or supplies; a required uniform must be paid for or refunded by the employer. Employers and managers cannot keep or share your tips; tip pools may include only wait staff, service bartenders and other service employees, and service charges must go to them (M.G.L. c. 149, § 152A).

Good to know in Massachusetts

• Workers who are fired must be paid everything on their last day - one of the strictest rules in the country (M.G.L. c. 149, § 148).
• Tipped workers on the $6.75 service rate must have the shortfall to $15.00 calculated at the end of every shift and added to the next paycheck (M.G.L. c. 151, § 7).
• The Attorney General runs a free Wage Theft Clinic where you can talk to a lawyer.

Forms

• Attorney General online workplace complaint (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole links)

Wage-theft calculator for Massachusetts

Work out what you should have been paid: at least the minimum wage for every hour, plus overtime. Then compare it with what you got.

Free demand letter for unpaid wages

A short, firm letter asking your employer to pay what it owes by a deadline. Many workers get paid at this step, and in some states a written demand starts penalties or makes the employer pay your attorney fees later. Fill this in, then download the letter as PDF or Word (or copy it), sign it, keep a copy and send it in a way you can prove, such as certified mail or an email you keep.

Questions about wage claims in Massachusetts

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