Massachusetts Blue Laws: Sunday Rules, Premium Pay, and Penalties

Massachusetts blue laws, set out in Chapter 136 of the General Laws, restrict certain business activity on Sundays and legal holidays. The rules split retail from non-retail operations, sort holidays into three restriction tiers, and still protect most retail employees from being forced to work Sundays. What they no longer do, as of January 1, 2023, is require premium pay for Sunday or holiday hours.¹

What Chapter 136 Still Restricts on Sundays

Section 5 of Chapter 136 is the core prohibition. It bars keeping a shop, warehouse, factory, or other place of business open on Sunday, and it bars selling goods, foodstuffs, or real estate.² Section 6 then carves out 55 specific exemptions, and Section 16 separately authorizes retail stores to open on Sundays and most holidays.

The practical result is a two-track system. Retail is largely free to operate; non-retail is not.

Retail Stores

Retailers can open on Sundays and sell any lawful goods except alcohol, which has its own rules. No approval from the Department of Labor Standards is needed, and no local police permit is required.³¹

Non-Retail Businesses

Non-retail businesses face a tighter rule. Unless they fit within one of the Section 6 exemptions, they cannot operate on Sundays without a permit from the local police chief. That permit is only available for work that “could not be performed on any other day without serious suffering, loss, damage or public inconvenience.”¹ Routine weekend work by a construction contractor, moving company, or landscaping crew doesn’t clear that bar unless one of the statutory exemptions applies.

The Section 6 exemptions cover a wide field. Hospitals, clinics, physicians, dentists, and other public services necessary to maintain life are exempt. So are utilities producing steam, electricity, fuel, and gas, along with manufacturing processes that must run continuously for technical reasons. Food stores, pharmacies, gas stations, garden centers, florists, art galleries, gift shops, pet stores, and bakeries each have their own exemption. Lawyers preparing for trial and banks processing checks, documents, and data are also covered.⁴

Sunday Alcohol Sales

Off-premises alcohol sales are allowed on Sundays, but two limits apply. Sales cannot start before 10:00 a.m., and no sales are permitted on Christmas Day when it falls on a Sunday.⁴ Cities and towns can also prohibit Sunday alcohol sales entirely by vote of the city council or board of selectmen.

A licensee has the right to open at 10:00 a.m. on Sundays, but must notify the local licensing authority of any change to operating hours. Without that notice, the store is limited to the hours printed on its existing license.⁵

Holiday Tiers

Holidays are the part of the law where compliance mistakes tend to happen. Massachusetts sorts legal holidays into three tiers, and the tiers work differently for retail than for manufacturing.

Retail

Unrestricted: Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Day, Evacuation Day, Patriots’ Day, and Bunker Hill Day. Retailers can open freely, and employees can be required to work.
Partially restricted: New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day after noon, and Veterans Day after 1:00 p.m. Retailers can open, but the voluntariness rule for employees applies.
Restricted: Columbus Day before noon, Veterans Day before 1:00 p.m., Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Retailers may operate during restricted hours only if the Department of Labor Standards issues statewide approval of permits and the store also obtains a local police permit.

Manufacturers

Unrestricted: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Day, Evacuation Day, Patriots’ Day, Bunker Hill Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Columbus Day after noon, and Veterans Day after 1:00 p.m. Voluntariness requirements do not apply.
Restricted: Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day before noon, Veterans Day before 1:00 p.m., Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Manufacturers generally need a local police permit to operate, and employees cannot be required to work unless the work is both “absolutely necessary” and of a type that could lawfully be done on Sunday.

Holiday work permits for manufacturers carry a fee set by the municipality, capped at $10.⁶

What Employees Can Refuse

Most retail employers cannot require a worker to take a Sunday shift, and cannot retaliate against a worker who refuses one. Retaliation includes firing, cutting hours, passing someone over for promotion, or any other penalty. The protection applies regardless of business size and regardless of whether the employee is hourly or salaried.¹ An employee who believes they’ve been retaliated against can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division.

Some retailers are specifically exempt from the voluntariness rule and can require Sunday work: food stores employing no more than three people including the proprietor at any one time on Sunday, art galleries, gift and antique shops, sporting goods sold at sports venues, gas stations and auto service facilities, garden centers, pet stores, bakeries, florists, and restaurants. Grocery stores, supermarkets, and pharmacies are not on that list and must comply with the voluntariness rule.¹

A related holiday protection applies to retailers that qualify under certain Section 6 exemptions and employ more than seven people including the proprietor: the employer cannot require holiday work, and refusing cannot trigger any penalty.³

Premium Pay Is No Longer Required

For decades, certain Massachusetts retailers had to pay hourly employees a premium for Sunday and holiday work. The 2018 “Grand Bargain” law phased that out over five years:⁷

2019: 1.4x the regular rate
2020: 1.3x
2021: 1.2x
2022: 1.1x
2023 onward: no premium required

There is now no legal requirement to pay retail workers extra for Sunday or holiday hours based on the day alone.¹ Standard overtime still applies: employers owe 1.5 times the regular hourly rate for any hours worked beyond 40 in a week, including Sunday and holiday hours. A Sunday shift inside a 40-hour week no longer triggers any premium by itself. Individual employers or union contracts may still provide one voluntarily, but the statutory entitlement is gone.

Penalties

Fines under Chapter 136 are modest, but each unlawful act or sale counts as a separate offense. Keeping a business open or conducting sales in violation of Section 5 carries a fine of $20 to $100 for a first offense and $50 to $200 for each subsequent offense.⁸ Unlicensed Sunday entertainment draws a fine of up to $50 per person present or participating.⁹

The bigger risk is licensing. Entertainment licenses can be revoked, cancelled, or suspended by the local licensing authority or by the Commissioner of the Division of Occupational Licensure when violations are found.¹⁰

Sunday Entertainment Licenses

Public entertainment, sports events, games, and other diversions that charge admission on Sundays require a license from the local city council or board of selectmen. Fees are capped at $20 per event and $400 per year.¹⁰ Some activities are carved out of the definition of regulated entertainment; folk and square dancing, for example, do not require a license.

1
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Working on Sundays and Holidays (“Blue Laws”)
2
Justia. Massachusetts Code Chapter 136 – Observance of a Common Day of Rest and Legal Holidays
3
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Part I, Title XX, Chapter 136, Section 16
4
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 136, Section 6 – Business, Trade, Labor or Work on Sunday
5
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. ABCC Advisory on Package Store Sunday Opening Hours Allowed at 10:00 A.M.
6
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Part I, Title XX, Chapter 136, Section 15
7
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Minimum Wage and Overtime Information
8
Justia. Massachusetts Code Chapter 136, Section 5 – Conducting Business on Sunday
9
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 136, Section 2 – Sports, Games and Entertainment on Sunday
10
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Part I, Title XX, Chapter 136, Section 4