Massachusetts Legislature Passes Wage Equity Legislation

Bill boosts salary transparency, tackles unfair compensation for women and people of color

JULY 25, 2024

Yesterday, Representative Bill Driscoll Jr. (D-Milton) joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts Legislature and took a strong step towards closing the gender and racial wage gap in the Commonwealth by passing An Act relative to salary range transparency. The legislation requires 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.

When signed into law H.4890 would make Massachusetts the eleventh state to mandate pay transparency by requiring employers to disclose salary ranges, according to the National Women’s Law Center. H.4890 builds on the Legislature’s 2016 passage of the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act, which prohibited wage discrimination based on gender and brought long-sought fairness and equality to workplaces in the state.

"With the passage of this legislation, Massachusetts is now one step closer to ensuring equal pay for equal work,” said House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano (D-Quincy). “Pay transparency will not only make our workplaces more equitable, it will also make Massachusetts more competitive with other states. I’d like to thank Leader Gregoire and the members of the conference committee, as well as all my colleagues in the House, Senate President Spilka and our partners in the Senate, for their important work on this legislation.”

“This is simple: everyone deserves equal pay for equal work, regardless of your gender, race, ethnicity, or background,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland). “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. I’m thankful to Senator Jehlen for her work on the conference committee, each of the conferees, Speaker Mariano, and our partners in the House for their work on this critical legislation.”

“This bill is a major push forward in our work to reach pay equality in the Commonwealth,” said Driscoll. “Pay range transparency allows applicants and workers to have a more well-rounded knowledge base regarding their specific position and workplace. This legislation protects employees, and specifically expands safeguards for women and workers of color, ensuring that they are fairly compensated for their efforts and contributions.”

“With the passage of this conference report we are doubling down on our commitment to wage equity in the Commonwealth, ensuring a level playing field and competitive salaries for employees,” said Representative Danielle W. Gregoire (D-Marlborough), First Division Chair and House Chair of the Conference Committee. “As a late addition to this conference committee due to the result of the departure of Chairman Cutler, I am grateful to my House and Senate colleagues who have worked tirelessly to ensure that this bill reaches the Governor’s desk prior to the end of the legislative session.”

“The 2016 Equal Pay Act was a huge step forward in closing pay gaps and it worked. One study from 2020 showed salary history bans alone increased pay by as much as 5% increase for all job changers, an 8% increase for women and a 13% increase for Black workers,” said Senator Patricia D. Jehlen (D-Somerville), Senate Chair of the Conference Committee. “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. With the data collected we’ll learn about inequities that persist and be able to identify ways to solve them. I’m grateful this was a priority of both the House and the Senate and for the work of my colleagues and look forward to this bill being signed by Governor Healey.” 

The bill requires employers with more than 100 employees to share their federal wage and workforce data reports 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. The bill makes a necessary update, following the Equal Pay Act of 2016, to prevent earned wage adjustments from triggering the anti-spiking provision.

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/African American 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.

“True progress towards justice and equality demands that we not only acknowledge the critical importance of wage equity, particularly for women and people of color, but actively strive to achieve it,” said Representative Brandy Fluker Oakley (D-Mattapan), House Conferee and sponsor of the bill. “By achieving wage equity, we empower individuals and strengthen our communities, fostering an environment where everyone can thrive and contribute to a more equitable future.”

“I am proud of this Conference Committee for working collaboratively, productively, and diligently to reach a final agreement on the historic and nation-leading wage equity legislation we enacted today,” said Senator Paul R. Feeney (D-Foxborough), Senate Conferee and sponsor of wage transparency legislation that was folded into the underlying bill. “Wage and income inequality continues to exacerbate an uneven economy for working people, especially women and people of color. By instituting salary range transparency in job descriptions and collecting aggregate demographic data to track wages across industries, we can empower workers and begin to close the gender and racial wage gap that persists across our economy and erodes the integrity of work. I thank the coalition of labor, community, and business leaders, under the guidance and unwavering persistence of former Lt. Governor Evelyn Murphy, for working together to refine this legislation and ensure that Massachusetts will continue to attract and retain the skilled and diverse workforce that keeps our economy humming and our Commonwealth thriving.”

“This legislation is an important step to eliminate gender and racial wage gaps,” said Representative Hannah Kane (R-Shrewsbury), a House Conferee. “Providing information on the salary range for a position will help women and people of color negotiate for better pay, and as the House Chair of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators, I am excited that one of the Caucus' priority bills is closer to becoming law. I thank House and Senate leadership, and my fellow conferees, for their work to advance this legislation.”

“I am supportive, as always, of legislation which promotes equity and fairness within our Commonwealth. This Act provides the language which entitles the Massachusetts workforce to access imperative information regarding salary ranges, fostering a job market which is not only more transparent, but more inclusive” said Senator Patrick M. O’Connor (R-Weymouth), a Senate Conferee. “In requiring employers to disclose pay ranges, alongside making aggregate wage data information public, this is an important step forward in closing the wage gap. I am looking forward to continuing to work to advance important reforms in pay equity. Ensuring equal opportunity for all Massachusetts workers is beneficial not just to those employees of the state, but to our overall economy.”

The bill passed both chambers, and was signed by the Governor on Wednesday, July 31st.

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