Massachusetts Minimum Wage Workers to Get Automatic Pay Raise

It seems as though everything is going up these days, including the minimum wage in Massachusetts.

If you earn the minimum wage in the Bay State, your hourly pay rate will likely increase as of January 1.

The Massachusetts minimum wage for non-tipped employees will go from $14.25 an hour to $15.00 when the new year dawns, a 75 cents-per-hour increase.

Tipped employees will receive a minimum of $6.75 an hour, considered by the commonwealth to be the "service rate."

According to MassLive.com,"A tipped employee is considered anyone who makes more than $20 a month in tips. However, they must receive at least the overall minimum wage, which is currently $14.25, when tips and wages are combined."

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said with the minimum wage increase, Sunday premium pay and holiday pay are eliminated as of January 1.

"The minimum wage applies to all employees except agricultural workers ($8.00 per hour is the minimum wage for most agricultural workers), members of a religious order, workers being trained in certain educational, nonprofit or religious organizations, and outside sales people," according to Mass.gov.

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The increase is part of a three-tiered approach to increasing the state's minimum wage, which rose to $13.50 in 2021. The minimum increased to $14.25 in 2022 and will reach $15.00 an hour on January 1, 2023.

Facing worker shortages that have persisted through the COVID pandemic and beyond, many national companies began increasing their minimum hourly pay to employees.

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since July 24, 2009.