New-Hire Wage Notice Requirements in Massachusetts

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Massachusetts onboarding notices center on leave, not general pay terms

The statewide onboarding duty for an ordinary covered employer is the Paid Family and Medical Leave notice under M.G.L. c. 175M, § 4(a). Massachusetts does not use that notice to disclose the employee's agreed hourly rate, salary, commission basis, overtime rate, payday, hours, or planned deductions.

M.G.L. c. 149, § 148 puts hours, hourly rate, and deductions on the pay slip furnished when wages are paid. It does not move those fields into a general hire notice. Its 90-day advance notice for changing from weekly to biweekly pay is expressly limited to an employer that was paying weekly on July 1, 1992; it is not a general wage-change notice for every Massachusetts employer.

PFML notice is due within 30 days and requires a completed delivery record

Under M.G.L. c. 175M, § 4(a), the employer must issue the written PFML information no more than 30 days after employment begins. The employee's primary language controls. DFML permits paper or electronic delivery and paper or electronic acknowledgment.

The notice explains available family and medical leave benefits, including reinstatement and continued health-insurance rights; states employee and employer contribution amounts and obligations; gives the employer's name, mailing address, and DFML identification number; explains how to file a claim; and supplies DFML's mailing address, email address, and telephone number. DFML identifies the employer number used on its notice form as the employer's Federal Employer Identification Number.

Statutory delivery is completed when the employee gives written acknowledgment of receipt or signs a statement refusing to sign the acknowledgment. The employer bears the burden of proving compliance. Under M.G.L. c. 175M, § 1, a municipality, district, political subdivision, or instrumentality is not subject to the chapter unless it adopts the chapter under § 10.

Earned-sick-time information can be delivered through a handbook

M.G.L. c. 149, § 148C(o) requires the Attorney General to prepare a notice and requires employers both to post it and provide a copy to employees. The notice covers earned-sick-time rights, employee notice and documentation duties, protections for exercising those rights, Attorney General contact information, and filing an action.

940 CMR 33.09(3)-(4) permits the employee copy to be hard copy or electronic. Instead of a separate copy, an employer may include its earned-sick-time policy or allowable substitute paid-leave policy in an employee manual or handbook. Neither the statute nor that regulation states a hire-specific delivery deadline.

The coverage definitions in § 148C(a) include employees who perform services for compensation. Cities and towns are included only if they accept the law, and the United States is excluded. Employers with 11 or more employees provide up to 40 hours of earned paid sick time; employees outside that paid-leave rule remain entitled to up to 40 hours of earned unpaid sick time under § 148C(d)(6).

Tipped service rates and meal or lodging deductions require separate writings

M.G.L. c. 151, § 7 allows the lower tipped service rate only when the employee has been informed of the paragraph's provisions and the other tip conditions are met. 454 CMR 27.03(2) makes the form explicit: before using the service rate, the employer must inform the employee in writing of § 7's third paragraph. This is a tipped-employee prerequisite, not a general regular-rate or overtime notice for all employees.

Under 454 CMR 27.05(2)-(3), a minimum-wage lodging or meal deduction requires prior written notice describing the lodging or meal plan, stating the charge, and explaining that acceptance is voluntary. The employee must voluntarily accept the lodging or meals and the deductions in writing.

Change notices and records follow different rules

DFML's current guidance requires an employer to give previously notified employees new contribution-rate information 30 days before the rate changes. Electronic notice is allowed and a new signature is not required. The same guidance directs employers to retain PFML forms under their internal document retention policy rather than naming a state retention period.

For earned sick time, 940 CMR 33.09(1)-(2) requires accurate accrual-and-use records for three years and gives an employee access to the employee's records within ten business days after a request. That is a leave-record rule; it does not state a separate retention period for the notice copy itself.

The notice regimes have different consequences

M.G.L. c. 175M, § 4(a) sets a $50 civil penalty per employee for a first PFML notice violation and $300 per employee for each subsequent violation. The employer bears the burden of demonstrating compliance.

940 CMR 33.10 sends violations of the earned-sick-time statute or regulations to M.G.L. c. 149, § 27C and § 150. M.G.L. c. 149, § 27C(b)(1) permits Attorney General warnings or civil citations, including rectification, restitution, and a civil penalty. Section 150 permits an aggrieved employee to pursue injunctive relief, damages, lost wages and benefits, costs, and attorney fees after the statutory complaint process; its treble-damages language is tied to lost wages and other benefits.

For tipped service rates and meal or lodging deductions, the required notice and written acceptance are conditions to using the lower rate or deduction. Omitting the prerequisite does not create a substitute general hire notice; it means the employer cannot rely on that lower-rate or deduction rule.

What trips people up

The 30-day PFML deadline runs after employment begins. It is not an at-offer or before-first-shift deadline, but waiting beyond the thirtieth day misses the statute's outside limit.

Refusal is documented rather than ignored. If an employee will not acknowledge receipt of the PFML information, § 4(a) calls for a signed refusal statement. A silent or undocumented refusal does not match the delivery text.

The sick-time notice need not always be a separate sheet. A compliant earned-sick-time or substitute paid-leave policy in the employee manual or handbook can satisfy the employee-copy route under 940 CMR 33.09(4), but the workplace posting remains a separate requirement.

The old weekly-pay rule is narrow. Section 148's 90-day notice does not create a general advance clock for wage-rate, deduction, or payday changes. It applies only to the closed class of employers paying weekly on July 1, 1992 that later move those employees to biweekly pay.

Common questions

Can an offer letter satisfy the PFML notice requirement?

Only if it uses information provided or approved by DFML, contains every required item, uses the employee's primary language, is delivered within the 30-day period, and supports the required acknowledgment or refusal. A typical letter stating salary and benefits does not necessarily do that.

Does an employer with fewer than 11 employees still provide sick-time information?

Yes. The employee-copy and posting rules are not limited to employers with 11 or more employees. Employer size changes whether the statutory leave is paid or unpaid, not whether § 148C's notice provisions exist.

Must an existing employee sign again when the PFML contribution rate changes?

DFML guidance says no updated signature is required for a previously signed employee. The employer must provide the new rate information 30 days before the change and may do so electronically.

Statutes and sources

• M.G.L. c. 175M, §§ 1 and 4(a). PFML employer coverage, notice timing, primary language, contents, acknowledgment or refusal, proof burden, and notice penalties.

  Each employer shall issue to each employee not more than 30 days from the beginning date of the employee's employment ... written information ... in the employee's primary language.

Official sources: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXII/Chapter175M/Section1 and https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXII/Chapter175M/Section4 (accessed 2026-07-22) - Massachusetts DFML written-notice guidance. Paper or electronic delivery and acknowledgment, FEIN field, contribution-rate changes, and form retention guidance.

Employers must provide any new employee a notification form within 30 days of hire.

Official guidance: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/informing-your-workforce-about-paid-family-and-medical-leave (accessed 2026-07-22) - M.G.L. c. 149, §§ 148 and 148C; 940 CMR 33.09-.10. Pay-slip timing, the closed-class pay-frequency notice, sick-time coverage and notice, delivery alternatives, records, and remedies.

Employers shall provide a hard copy or electronic copy of this notice to all eligible employees, or include the employer's policy ... in any employee manual or handbook.

Official sources: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXI/Chapter149/Section148, https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXI/Chapter149/Section148C, and https://www.mass.gov/doc/earned-sick-time-regulations-940-cmr-3300-et-seq/download (accessed 2026-07-22) - M.G.L. c. 151, § 7; 454 CMR 27.03(2), 27.05(2)-(3). Tipped-service-rate writing and prior written meal or lodging deduction notices and acceptance.

An employer may pay the service rate to the employee only if ... the employer informs such employee in writing of the provisions of M.G.L. c. 151, § 7, paragraph three.

Official sources: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXI/Chapter151/Section7 and https://www.mass.gov/doc/454-cmr-27-minimum-wage/download (accessed 2026-07-22) - M.G.L. c. 149, §§ 27C and 150. Earned-sick-time citation authority and private remedies incorporated by 940 CMR 33.10.

An employee claiming to be aggrieved by a violation of ... 148C ... may ... institute and prosecute ... a civil action.

Official sources: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXI/Chapter149/Section27C and https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXI/Chapter149/Section150 (accessed 2026-07-22)