East Coast Compliance Guide
Last Updated: May 2025
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Massachusetts Employment Law Compliance Guide
Massachusetts Labor Law Posters
Labor law posters are the backbone of any compliance program. Massachusetts has 9 state level posters as of May 2025 currently active in GovDocs Labor Law Poster Program. Of these, there were 4 mandatory updates (including Spanish updates) issued in 2024.
Massachusetts also has 1 local jurisdiction with labor law poster requirements.
Mandatory posters (excluding wage orders and wage supplement) at the state level currently issued in 2024: 9
Massachusetts Minimum Wage
The minimum wage in Massachusetts is $15.00 per hour. This wage rate has been in effect since Jan. 1, 2023, after the state gradually increased its minimum wage over several years until it hit the benchmark of $15. Like New Jersey, Massachusetts does not have any local minimum wage rate requirements at the city or county levels.
Massachusetts also has a tipped employee wage, which is $6.75 per hour as of Jan. 1. 2023.
Notably, there was a recent ballot measure in the 2024 general election asking voters whether they want to gradually eliminate the tipped wage over the next 5 years until it reached the state minimum wage on Jan. 1, 2029. However, the voters failed, keeping the tipped employee wage in place.
Massachusetts Paid Leave
In this guide, we are addressing the following two paid leave laws:
- Paid sick leave
- Paid family and medical leave
Below are a few of the basics for each.
Paid Sick Leave
Covered Family Member
A covered family member for paid sick leave includes the employee’s child, parent, and spouse, including biological, adopted, foster, step, in-law, legal and in loco parentis relationships.
Eligible Reasons for Use
Care for employee’s physical or mental illness or condition, including diagnosis and preventive care.
Address employee or employee’s spouse’s physical and mental health needs due to pregnancy loss, failed assisted reproduction, adoption or surrogacy.
Care for family member’s physical or mental illness or condition, including diagnosis and preventive care.
Address the psychological, physical or legal effects of domestic violence.
Travel time to/from appointment, pharmacy or other location related to reason sick time was taken.
Date Accrual Begins
First date of actual work.
Accrual Rate
1 hour for every 30 hours worked.
Max Accrual Cap
40 hours
Waiting Period Before Use
Eligible for use on and after the 90th calendar day of employment.
Paid Family and Medical Leave
Covered Employee
Any employee employed by an employer, including family child care provider or personal care attendant may be eligible for paid family medical leave. To be a covered individual, employee must have earned at least 30 times the weekly benefit rate in the last four completed calendar quarters immediately preceding employee’s benefit year.
Covered Family Member
Spouse; Domestic Partner; Child -including biological, adopted, foster, step, legal ward or child whom the covered individual stands in loco parentis; Parent – including in-law and person who stood in loco parentis to the covered individual as a child; Grandchild; Grandparent; or Sibling.
Eligible Reasons for Leave
Eligible reasons for leave include:
- Bonding with covered individual’s child within 12 months of birth or placement;
- Time off for employee to care for self due to employee’s own serious health condition;
- To care for family member with serious health condition;
- Qualifying exigency leave due to family member on active duty or being called to active duty in armed forces; or
- To care for family member who is a covered service member.
Weeks Allowed Per Type of Leave
Family leave – 12 weeks.
Medical leave – 20 weeks.
Qualifying exigency relating to active-duty family member – 26 weeks.
Massachusetts Pay Transparency
Employers with 25 or more employees in Massachusetts are required to disclose the salary range for the advertised position in job postings.
Employers are also required to provide the pay range to employees offered a promotion, transfer, or a new position with different responsibilities and to employees upon request and to applicants upon request.
To learn more about additional jurisdictions with pay transparency laws, check out our Pay Transparency Guide or view our interactive map for pay transparency laws by state.
Massachusetts Meal and Rest Breaks
Massachusetts also has requirements for employers regarding meal and rest breaks.
Meal Breaks
Employers must provide employees with a 30 minute meal break to employees who work more than six hours in a calendar day.
Rest Breaks
Massachusetts does not have a law requiring employers to provide rest breaks to employees. However, the Massachusetts Minimum Fair Wage law requires that a rest period of 20 minutes or less is compensable and considered work time.
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New Jersey Employment Law Compliance Guide
New Jersey Labor Law Posters
New Jersey has 26 state-level labor law posters as of May 2025 in the GovDocs Labor Law Poster Program, and in 2024 there were 17 mandatory updates.
Interestingly, there are no mandatory labor law poster requirements at the city and county level in New Jersey.
New Jersey mandatory posters at state level currently issued in 2024: 16
New Jersey Minimum Wage
New Jersey’s minimum wage is currently set at $15.49 for large employers (6 or more employees) and $14.53 for small employers (less than 6 employees) and seasonal employers. New Jersey’s minimum hourly wage is adjusted on an annual basis based on the applicable consumer price index. This may come as a surprise, but New Jersey does not have any local jurisdictions with minimum wage ordinances in effect at this time.
New Jersey also has an industry-specific wage in effect for long-term care facility direct care staff. It stays $3 above the current standard minimum wage for large employers, so the long-term care staff minimum wage is set at $18.49 as of Jan. 1, 2025.
Lastly, the state’s tipped employee wage increased to $5.62 per hour as of Jan. 1, 2025.
New Jersey Paid Leave
Like Massachusetts, New Jersey has both paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave laws.
Paid Sick Leave
Covered Family Member
Child or grandchild, Sibling of employee or employee’s spouse, domestic partner or civil union partner Spouse, domestic partner, civil union partner Parent or grandparent of employee Spouse, domestic partner or civil union partner of a parent or grandparent of the employee Any other individual related by blood to the employee or whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.
Eligible Reasons for Use
Employees shall be allowed to take leave for employee’s own illness, to care for a family member who is ill, leave relating to the employee or employee family member’s domestic or sexual violence, inability to work due to business or school closures because of public health emergencies, employee or family member’s need to quarantine during a public health emergency, and to attend a school-related appointment or event, or a meeting in connection with a child’s health condition or disability.
Date Accrual Begins
At start of employment.
Accrual Rate
1 hour for every 30 hours worked.
Max Accrual Cap
40 hours
Waiting Period Before Use
Eligible for use on the 120th day after start of employment.
Paid Family and Medical Leave
Covered Employee
Any employee who has paid into the program through employment and meets the minimum gross earnings requirements is eligible for benefits. Employees of the federal government, out of state employees, and employees classified as contractors are not considered Covered Employees.
Covered Family Member
Child, sibling, parent, grandparent, grandchild, spouse, domestic partner, civil union partner, parent-in-law, any other individual related by blood to the employee, and any other individual the employee shows to have a close association with the employee which is the equivalent of a family relationship.
Child includes biological, adopted, foster, step or legal ward of a covered employee – includes child of domestic partner or civil union partner of employee or child who becomes child of employee pursuant to a valid written agreement between the parent and a gestational carrier.
Parent includes biological, foster, adoptive, step parent of the covered individual or a person who was a legal guardian of the covered individual when the individual was a child or who became the parent of the covered individual pursuant to a valid written agreement between the parent and a gestational carrier.
Eligible Reasons for Leave
Time off for any of the following:
- for employee to care for self due to employee’s illness, injury or medical condition,
- to care for family member due to an illness, injury or medical condition,
- to bond with a child in the first year of the child’s birth, adoption or placement,
- to deal with issues related to being a victim of domestic violence or sexually violent offense or to assist a family member who has been a victim of domestic violence or a sexually violent offense.
Weeks Allowed Per Type of Leave
6 weeks for leave beginning prior to July 1, 2020.
12 weeks for leave beginning on or after July 1, 2020
New Jersey Pay Transparency
Employers in New Jersey with 10 or more employees over 20 calendar weeks that do business, employ workers, or take applications for employment in the state must provide the hourly wage, salary, or hourly/salary range along with a general description of benefits and other compensation programs in job postings.
Employers are also required to provide hourly and salary ranges and benefits and compensation programs for transfer opportunities to current employees.
New Jersey Meal and Rest Breaks
Meal breaks
New Jersey law does not require meal breaks for employees 18 years of age and older. Minors under the age of 18 who work for more than six consecutive hours must be provided with a 30 minute meal break.
Rest Breaks
New Jersey law only requires rest breaks for domestic workers.
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New York Employment Law Compliance Guide
New York Labor Law Posters
New York has 20 state posters as of May 2025 in GovDocs Labor Law Poster Program, which includes 7 wage orders.
In 2024, New York had 15 mandatory updates to its posters and issued 1 new mandatory poster at the state level covering captive audience information.
New York has 3 county level posters, and 31 city-level posters employers must continue to monitor for changes in 2025.
New York mandatory posters at state level in 2024: 18
Did You Know?
Keeping up with labor law poster changes in every location can be challenging. With the GovDocs Labor Law Poster Update Program, you’ll automatically receive updated posters at affected locations whenever a mandatory change occurs, helping you stay compliant with less effort.
New York Minimum Wage
New York’s minimum wage requirements are broken down based on the region: New York City, Long Island & Westchester Counties, and then the remainder of New York State.
As of Jan. 1, 2025, the standard minimum wage is $16.50 for New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties. The remainder of New York State’s standard minimum wage is $15.50. Each jurisdiction will increase by 50 cents on Jan. 1, 2026, to $17.00 and $16.00, respectively. Then each year thereafter on Jan. 1, the wage rates will be adjusted annually by the New York State Department of Labor Commissioner.
New York also has industry-specific wages. Specifically, the current minimum wage rate for home care aides as of Jan. 1, 2025, is $19.10 for New York City, Long Island, and Westchester Counties and $18.10 for the remainder of New York State.
There are also distinct tipped employee wages for service employees and food service workers. In New York City and the above-mentioned counties, the tipped employee wage is $13.75 for service employees and $11.00 for food service workers. For the remainder of New York State, the tipped employee wage is $12.90 per hour for service employees and $10.35 per hour for food service workers.
Currently, only certain hospitality employers are allowed to take a tipped credit from the minimum wage.
New York Paid Leave
New York has both paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave (PFML).
To help employers maintain compliance, below are some of the basics of both state-level laws.
Paid Sick Leave
Covered Family Member
Child – including biological, adopted, foster, legal ward, or child standing in loco parentis and child of employee’s spouse or domestic partners;
Spouse; Domestic Partner;
Parent – including biological, foster, step or adoptive parent, or a legal guardian of an employee or a person who stood in loco parentis when the employee is a minor child and parent of employee’s spouse or domestic partner;
Sibling;
Grandchild; or
Grandparent.
Eligible Reasons for Use
As of January 1, 2021, employees may take sick leave for the following:
the care, treatment, diagnosis of or preventative care for the mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition of employee or employee’s family member;
safe time reasons, including obtaining services at a domestic violence or rape crisis center, participating in safety or relocation planning, enrolling children in a new school, meeting with attorneys and participating in proceedings or to take other actions that would ensure the health and safety of employee or employee’s family member.
Date Accrual Begins
At start of employment.
Accrual Rate
Paid Sick Leave – 1 hour for every 30 hours worked.
Prenatal Leave – does not accrue. Employees are eligible for 20 hours prenatal leave per year.
Max Accrual Cap
Between 5-99 employees: 40 hours.
100 or more employees: 56 hours.
Employers with four or less employees must provide 40 hours of unpaid sick leave each calendar year. However, if an employer with 4 or less employees has a net income of greater than 1 million dollars in the previous tax year, the employer must provide its employees with 40 hours of paid sick leave.
Waiting Period Before Use
No applicable provision.
Paid Family and Medical Leave
Covered Employee
For disability benefits, covered employees are those who work for covered employers for four or more consecutive weeks.
For family leave benefits, covered employees must work for a covered employer for 26 or more consecutive weeks and work 20 or more hours except covered employees who work less than 20 hours will be eligible after working 175 full days preceding first full day of leave begin. In calculating eligibility, employer shall count the use of scheduled vacation, personal, sick or other approved time away from work however periods of temporary disability shall not be counted.
Covered Family Member
Child – includes biological, adopted, foster, stepchild, legal ward, child of domestic partner or person whom employee stands in loco parentis.
Domestic Partner
Parent – includes biological, foster, adoptive parent, parent-in-law, stepparent, legal guardian, or other person who stood in loco parents to employee when employee was a child.
Grandparent
Grandchild
Sibling – includes a biological or adopted sibling, half-sibling, or stepsibling.
Eligible Reasons for Leave
Disability: Illness or injury of employee.
Family Leave: Leave within 1 year of birth, placement or adoption of child; care for eligible family member; due to active military duty of certain family members.
Includes COVID leave for quarantine for employee or minor child until July 31, 2025.
Weeks Allowed Per Type of Leave
Employees are eligible for 12 weeks paid family leave during any 52 week calendar period.
New York Pay Transparency
Since September 17, 2023, employers with 4 or more workers have been required to provide the salary range and a job description (if it already exists) for the position in job postings. For employers hiring remote workers, the law applies to jobs that “can or will be performed, at least in part, within the state of New York.”
New York Meal and Rest Breaks
Meal Breaks
Employees in New York who are employed in the mercantile or other establishment or occupation covered by the state’s labor law are entitled to a 30-minute meal period for their noon day meal. The meal period should occur between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Employees working in connection with a factory are entitled to at least 60 minutes for the noon day meal.
There are different requirements for employees with shifts starting before 11:00 p.m. and continuing after 7:00 p.m. and for employees with a shift of more than six hours that starts between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
Rest Breaks
New York law does not require rest breaks. However, if rest breaks are provided, they must follow federal law and be between 5 and 20 minutes and counted as hours worked and paid.
East Coast Compliance Guide: Conclusion
Understanding the legal requirements for Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York is essential for businesses operating in these states. Each state has specific mandates regarding employment law compliance, from minimum wage to paid leave regulations, that demand careful attention. Staying informed and compliant not only mitigates legal risks but also demonstrates a commitment to fair and lawful business practices. By addressing these requirements confidently, companies can ensure smooth operations while fostering trust among employees and stakeholders alike.
Coast to coast, GovDocs has you covered.
Ready to tackle compliance on the other side of the country?
Our West Coast Compliance Guide outlines key employment law requirements in California, Oregon, and Washington to help your business stay informed.
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How GovDocs Can Help You Keep Track of Employment Law Compliance
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