MA Earned Sick Time: 1 hr per 30 worked. Paid at 11+ employees.
Massachusetts's Earned Sick Time law (MGL c. 149 § 148C) is one of the most worker-protective in the country. Workers accrue 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year. Employers with 11 or more employees must provide it as paid leave; employers with 10 or fewer must provide unpaid leave with the same accrual and use rights. Workers can use leave starting on day 91 of employment. 2024 expansion (Bodge & others v. Commonwealth) added qualifying reasons: domestic violence affecting employee or child, pregnancy loss, failed assistive reproduction, adoption, or surrogacy. Enforced by the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division with treble damages exposure.
Earned Sick Time Workflow
Accrues 1 hour per 30 worked. Validates 11-employee paid/unpaid threshold per workforce. Tracks 2024 expansion qualifying reasons. Surfaces retaliation patterns. Enforces 90-day waiting period.
What those rules do as ESL accrues and is used.
The hero card configuration: Flag on balance display, Avoid on retaliation patterns, Critical on threshold transitions.
Every paystub displays the worker's ESL accrual since last notice, usage, and current balance — satisfying MGL c. 149 § 148C(d)(2) notice requirements automatically.
When a worker uses ESL and within 30 days experiences any of: hours cut by 20%+, schedule reassignment, written discipline, attendance points (illegal under ESL), Teambridge surfaces an Avoid indicator.
When the workforce crosses the 11-employee threshold, ESL converts from unpaid to paid. The transition surfaces as Critical with the effective date and a transition workflow to update accrual handling.
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1 hour per 30, paid at 11 employees, broad use cases.
Massachusetts ESL is one of the broadest paid sick leave programs in the country, both in accrual and qualifying reasons. The 2024 Bodge ruling and amendments expanded it further.
Accrual at 1 hour per 30 worked
Workers accrue 1 hour of ESL for every 30 hours worked, starting day one of employment. This is more generous than Washington (1 per 40) and matches California, New York, and many other state PSL programs. The 30-hour ratio applies regardless of full-time, part-time, or seasonal status.
11-employee paid/unpaid threshold
The 11-employee threshold is calculated by averaging the workforce across the prior calendar year (all worker types — full-time, part-time, seasonal). 11+ employees triggers paid ESL; 10 or fewer requires unpaid leave with same accrual and use rights. The threshold counts all employees regardless of where they work; primary place of work matters for individual eligibility but not for threshold calculation.
Teambridge runs accrual, threshold, and retaliation detection.
MA ESL is operationally similar to Washington's state PSL but with a different threshold (11+ for paid vs WA's 90-day waiting period). The 2024 expanded reasons add scenarios that legacy systems often miss.
1 hour per 30 worked.
Every clock-out triggers accrual: hours worked since last clock-out × (1/30) added to ESL balance. Accrual continues regardless of usage cap; balance accumulates over time.
11-employee transition.
Teambridge tracks total workforce count across all locations using prior-year average. Crossings (10 → 11 or 11 → 10) trigger transitions in ESL paid/unpaid status with effective dates.
DV, pregnancy loss, surrogacy.
When workers request ESL for the new qualifying reasons (domestic violence, pregnancy loss, failed assistive reproduction, adoption, surrogacy), the request validates against the expanded list. No documentation requirement for reasons — workers self-attest.
30-day post-use surveillance.
After ESL use, Teambridge monitors for adverse actions within 30 days: hours cut, schedule changes, written discipline, attendance points. Patterns surface as Avoid for compliance review.
Still evaluating? Get a free Massachusetts compliance audit.
Send us your existing Massachusetts scheduling and pay configuration. Our compliance team returns a written audit within 5 business days — every Massachusetts-specific exposure ranked by risk and back-pay liability.