How to File a Wage Claim in Massachusetts

The agency and the online form

Wage and hour complaints in Massachusetts go to the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division. For most complaints relating to wages and hours, the worker files a wage complaint online, providing information about the worker and the complaint, as well as information about the employer. The Mass.gov pages opened for this guide name no numbered form and no paper form. The filing instrument is the online complaint form itself. A worker who needs a wage complaint form in an accessible format other than filing online may call the Fair Labor Division Hotline at 617-727-3465, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On the online form, the worker selects the best option from the About Your Request section. Non-Payment of Wage is the option for most complaints, including getting paid less than minimum wage, not being paid for hours worked, not getting overtime pay, being misclassified as an independent contractor, tips violations, earned sick time violations, and no meal breaks. The other options on the form are Child Labor or Youth Employment, Domestic Violence Leave, Prevailing Wage Complaint for work on a public project, and Employment Discrimination. Online forms in other languages are listed on the workplace complaint page, including Haitian Creole, Spanish, and Portuguese versions.

What to have ready, and the document conflict

The workplace complaint page states that the worker should provide as much information as possible, and may want to have pay stubs, handbooks, or other records related to the problem at hand while filling out the complaint form. It states that documents cannot be attached to the complaint, that the worker should keep documents available in case someone from the office asks to see them, and that the worker does not need the documents in order to file.

The minimum-wage complaint page states something different about documents. It states that after submitting the form, the worker will have the chance to upload documents that support the claim, such as pay stubs for the period of the violation, a copy of the company's vacation or sick policy if that is the subject of the complaint, and other records showing the problem. Those two statements conflict: one page says documents cannot be attached to the complaint, and the other says documents may be uploaded after submission. Both statements are recorded here as written. A worker should expect to keep supporting records available, and should follow the upload prompt the form itself presents after submission, if one appears. No document list beyond the examples on the two pages is stated here.

Deadlines: no complaint deadline stated

The Mass.gov pages opened for this guide state no deadline for filing the complaint itself. No complaint deadline figure is given here.

The three-year figure that appears on Attorney General pages is a different clock. An Attorney General settlement page states that the statute of limitations for most wage and hour law violations is three years after the violation occurred, that the deadlines control how much time a worker has to file a lawsuit, and that missing the deadline means the worker will not be able to sue. That three-year period is the lawsuit clock, stated here only as lawsuit context. It must not be read as the deadline for filing a complaint with the Fair Labor Division, because the complaint pages do not state it as one.

What happens next

The Fair Labor Division reviews the complaint as soon as it can. It receives many complaints, so it may take several weeks to decide whether it will investigate a claim. Not all complaints lead to an investigation. Depending on the information and the investigation, the Division may pursue the unpaid wages, give the worker a private right of action letter, punish the employer with a civil citation that may require payment of unpaid wages and a penalty, file criminal charges against the employer, send a warning to the employer, or take some other action to resolve violations found.

The private right of action letter is the outcome a worker asks for when the worker wants to sue on their own, without the help of the Division. The worker must ask for the letter in the comment section of the complaint form. The letter gives the worker the right to sue on their own. If the worker wins the case, the Mass.gov minimum-wage page states that the employer must pay three times the amount of the unpaid wages, and must also pay the worker's court costs and lawyer's fees. That treble-damages statement is process context for a court case that follows a private right of action letter. It is not a statement about what the Division itself orders, and this guide gives no advice on whether to sue or what to claim. No fee for filing the complaint is stated on the Mass.gov pages opened, and none is asserted here.

Retaliation protections are listed among the Division's linked topics on the workplace complaint page, but the retaliation rules were not opened for this guide and no retaliation rule is stated here.

Comparing states, the Wage Claim Filing by State directory puts the state guides side by side.

Source

Sources: Mass.gov, Attorney General's Fair Labor Division, File a workplace complaint (mass.gov); Mass.gov, Attorney General's Fair Labor Division, File a minimum wage complaint (mass.gov); Mass.gov, Swissport Settlement Agreement with the MA Office of the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division (three-year lawsuit limitations statement) (mass.gov). Facts verified 2026-11-03. Conflicts and omissions: the two Mass.gov complaint pages conflict on document uploads, and both wordings are stated above; no complaint filing deadline is stated, because none appears on the complaint pages; the three-year figure is stated only as the lawsuit clock; no numbered form is named, because none appears on the pages opened; no filing fee is stated, because none appears on the pages opened.

This page explains how the process works and what the official rules say. It is general information, not legal advice. For a dispute about your specific situation, talk to the Massachusetts Attorney General's Fair Labor Division.