- Bill passes in Massachusetts. The Legislature on July 24 passed a pay transparency bill that aims to close the gender and racial wage gap in the state.
- Ten states currently have active laws. If signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey, Massachusetts would become the 11th state to mandate pay transparency by requiring employers to disclose salary ranges.
- An expansion to the state’s Equal Pay Act. The legislation builds on the Legislature’s 2016 passage of the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act, which prohibited wage discrimination based on gender.
The Massachusetts Legislature on July 24 passed a pay transparency bill that aims to close the gender and racial wage gap in the state.
If signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey, Massachusetts would become the 11th state to mandate pay transparency by requiring employers to disclose salary ranges. The other 10 states with pay transparency laws are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island and Washington.
The legislation, titled “An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency,” requires Massachusetts employers with 25 or more employees to disclose a salary range when posting a position and protects an employee’s right to ask their employer for the salary range for their position when applying for a job or seeking a promotion.
The effective date for the salary disclosure components of the legislation would be one year after signage into law. Employers would need to submit their first round of data for equal employment opportunity (EEO) and pay to the state by Feb. 1, 2025.
Building onto Equal Pay Act’s Foundation
Bill creators and sponsors say the legislation builds on the Legislature’s 2016 passage of the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act, which prohibited wage discrimination based on gender.
“This is simple: Everyone deserves equal pay for equal work, regardless of your gender, race, ethnicity or background,” Massachusetts Senate President Karen E. Spilka stated in a press release. “It is far too common for women and people of color to be paid less than their coworkers nationwide, and Massachusetts is not immune. By passing this bill, the Legislature stands united behind every worker — and with every business — in our steadfast commitment to the fundamental principle that every person has the right to be treated and compensated fairly in the workplace.”
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“The 2016 Equal Pay Act was a huge step forward in closing pay gaps, and it worked,” said state Sen. Patricia D. Jehlen, who pointed to a 2020 Boston University study that showed salary history bans alone increased pay in Massachusetts by as much as 5% for all job changers, and increased pay 8% for women and 13% for Black workers.
“This bill takes the next steps in providing more information for job seekers and ensuring that women and people of color enter wage negotiations with more information at their fingertips to secure better offers,” Jehlen said. “With the data collected, we’ll learn about inequities that persist and be able to identify ways to solve them.”
The pay transparency bill requires private employers with more than 100 employees to annually share their federal wage and workforce data reports (including workforce demographic and pay data categorized by race, ethnicity, sex, and job category) with the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD), which would then be responsible for compiling and publishing aggregated wage and workforce date to help identify gender and racial wage gaps by industry.
In Greater Boston, the 2023 gender wage gap was 21 cents, according to the Boston Women’s Workforce Council. This gap becomes more pronounced when comparing white men and women of color, where Black women face a 54-cent wage gap, Hispanic/Latina women face a 52-cent wage gap and Asian women face a 19-cent wage gap.
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