What are Massachusetts' Blue Laws?

Massachusetts' "Blue Laws" are back in the headlines, this time tied to accusations that the old-school laws are unfairly inapplicable to online retail giant Amazon's business, even if Massachusetts' brick-and-mortar retailers must still abide by them.

So, what are the Blue Laws?

You'll usually hear about them around the holidays, particularly Black Friday. They're the series of regulations applied to retailers, restaurants, and other businesses that got their start in the 17th century. They're designed to protect employees by restricting work hours on holidays and Sundays. Enforcing the restrictions falls to the state Attorney General's Fair Labor Division.

Many retailers and advocacy groups consider the laws antiquated at best and, at worst, harmful to their businesses' ability to compete. It's a recurring concern that's flared up around Thanksgiving, in particular, as national retailers have been pushing their "Black Friday" sales back into the holiday itself.

This week, the debate's been resurrected by state retailers furious over what they see as a loophole in the law they believe unfairly benefits Goliath-sized competitor Amazon.

As The Boston Globe reports, Gov. Charlie Baker's economic development bill disregarded state retail trade groups' pleas to f0rce Amazon's forthcoming Fall River warehouse to abide by the same time-and-a-half Sunday pay rules as other state retailers.

It “creates an uneven playing field,” Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, told the paper.

That time-and-a-half Sunday pay law is one of several regulations still on the books. Others have been overturned. Here's an overview of those that remain:

Sundays

Retailers

... may open at any time on Sunday without the need for approval by the Department of Labor Standards, and without the need for local police permit, except for retailers of alcoholic beverages, which may not open until 10 a.m. on Sunday

... must pay at a rate of no less than one and on-half times their regular rate, if they employ more than seven people (including the owner)

... cannot compel employees to work Sundays or use an employees' refusal to work on Sunday as reason for discrimination, dismissal, discharge, reduction in hours, or any other penalty.

Non-retail Establishments

... are not allowed to operate on Sundays unless they fall under these exemptions or receive a work permit from the local police chief for "necessary work or labor which could not be performed on any other day without serious suffering, loss, damage or public inconvenience, or which could not be performed on any other day without delay to military defense work."

... although manufacturers can petition the AG's office for a temporary exemption from the Sunday work restriction

Holidays

There are lots of exemptions to this rule, including restaurants, pharmacies, hotels, and other businesses listed here.

That said, non-retail businesses like factories and mills can't require employees to work on legal holidays unless, again, that work is "absolutely necessary and can be legally performed on Sunday" or other special exemptions. Fines for this can reach up to $1,500.

For retail versus non-retail businesses, there's a whole list of holidays that do and do not apply.

Conditions for holiday work and difference enforcement for the different holidays are detailed here.