Bill
S 1305
Presumes app-based delivery workers are employees of platforms and requires minimum wage for all working time, higher pay for assigned time, and platform wage data transparency.
Status & procedure
- Introduced: April 4, 2025 (Senate). Read twice and referred to committee.
- Committee referrals listed to Labor & Workforce Development, Women’s Issues, and Health. Passed the Senate (May 28, 2025) and was delivered to the House/Assembly and referred to the House Committee on Health. Hearings were scheduled/updated for November 20, 2025.
- Bill text available as “Senate Docket No. 722” / Print No. 1305A. (Note: some docket metadata in the file is corrupted/truncated.)
Purpose / intent
- Establish minimum labor standards, transparency, and accountability for “application‑based delivery workers” (i.e., couriers who accept assignments via a digital platform operated by a Delivery Network Company, or DNC).
- Create a statutory presumption that app‑based delivery workers are employees of the DNC (consistent with existing Section 148B of Chapter 149) and set rules for wages, hours in which workers are considered “working,” data reporting, and certain operational definitions (e.g., “assigned time,” “standby time,” “base location”).
Key definitions (selected)
- Application‑based delivery worker: a person providing delivery services via an online platform; presumptively an employee of the DNC.
- Assigned time: time between acceptance of a dispatched assignment and completion — includes picking, packaging, loading, transportation until return to the DNC’s base, dispatch to a new assignment, or platform turned off.
- Standby time: time on the platform, ready and available for assignments but not on an active assignment.
- Working time: assigned time + standby time.
- Base location: worker’s reported reporting hub when logging on to the platform.
- Deactivation / Failure to activate: suspension/refusal of account access.
Wage and pay provisions
- Minimum applicable hourly wage: at least the state basic minimum wage (chapter 151) for all working time.
- If a worker has “unfettered discretion” to log on/off at times of their choosing, assigned time must be paid at no less than 150% of the basic minimum wage (i.e., a higher floor for time actively performing assignments).
- The law requires that, on average, workers earn for the first 40 hours of working time in each 7‑day week at least the basic minimum wage, counting standby time.
- The worker’s average hourly wage for a 7‑day week (or actual average, if greater) will be the regular rate for overtime calculations under section 1A of chapter 151.
Transparency and enforcement
- Delivery Network Companies operating in the Commonwealth must provide contemporaneous, electronic, searchable payroll and work‑time data by base location to the Department of Labor Standards (DLS) and the Attorney General upon request. Required data (excerpted) includes: hours of assigned time, hours of standby time, total working time, assigned time rates, and incentive/premium payments.
- The DLS is tasked with developing regulations (for example, standards for when a DNC may require a worker to turn the platform off).
Who is affected
- Application‑based delivery workers providing pre‑arranged delivery services via DNC digital platforms in Massachusetts.
- Delivery Network Companies (platform operators) that assign, dispatch, or pay such workers and that must comply with wage, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements.
- Municipalities: the bill notes municipalities may impose additional rules concerning reporting hubs.
Potential impacts / highlights
- Creates clearer employee status for many gig delivery couriers in Massachusetts (presumption of employee status).
- Raises pay protections by requiring minimum wage for all working time and higher pay for assigned time in certain situations; ties overtime regular rate calculations to workers’ actual average earnings.
- Increases platform reporting/transparency to regulators, enabling enforcement and oversight.
- Leaves regulatory detail (e.g., precise rules about when platforms may require workers to turn off) to the Department of Labor Standards.
Limitations / caveats
- Provided text in the available file is truncated; additional provisions (discipline/deactivation appeal processes, anti‑retaliation, insurance, vehicle expense reimbursements, civil penalties, or other specifics) may appear elsewhere in the full bill.
- Metadata in the docket includes duplicated actions and multiple committee referrals; sponsors listed in records include both state and out‑of‑state names (some inconsistencies in the source file). Readers should consult the official legislative website or the full printed bill (1305A) for the complete text and final bill language.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
Sign in to ask a question.
