Massachusetts to require salary disclosures, wage data reporting 

August 12, 2024

 

On July 31, 2024, Massachusetts’ governor signed H 4890, which will require public and private employers with 25 or more employees to disclose pay ranges in job postings, provide the pay range of a position to an employee who is offered a promotion or transfer and, upon request, provide the pay range to employees who already hold that position or are applying for it. The salary disclosure requirements are effective July 31, 2025. The legislation also requires public and private employers with 100 or more employees to submit wage data reports to the state. The Attorney General’s Office will conduct a public awareness campaign on the new rules.

Salary range disclosures. Private and public employers with 25 or more employees shall provide the pay range for a particular and specific employment position:

• In the posting of the position
• To an employee who is offered a promotion or transfer to a new position with different job responsibilities
• To an employee holding such position — upon request, or to an applicant, for such position — upon request. So far, California is the only other state to expand the disclosure requirements to current employees “upon request.” 

“Pay range” is defined as the annual salary range or hourly wage range that the covered employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for such position at that time. “Posting” is defined as any advertisement or job posting intended to recruit job applicants for a particular and specific employment position, including, but not limited to, recruitment done directly by a covered employer or indirectly through a third party.

Wage data reporting. Massachusetts employers with 100 or more employees who are subject to the filing requirements of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) shall annually submit wage data reports to the state secretary by the “least restrictive means available, including, but not limited to web portals, email submissions or paper forms.” The reports must include demographic and pay data information categorized by race, ethnicity, sex and job category. The first reporting will be by Feb. 1, 2025. The secretary will provide the data reports by July 1 of each year to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development who will publish on its website aggregate wage and workforce data reports. The individual EEO reports will not be considered “public records” under Massachusetts law.

Nonretaliation. Employers may not discharge or in any other manner retaliate or discriminate against any employee or applicant because the employee or applicant has:

• Taken action to enforce their rights
• Made any complaint to their employer, an agent of their employer or the attorney general regarding an alleged violation
• Instituted, or caused to be instituted, any proceeding or
• Testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding.

Enforcement. The attorney general will enforce these requirements, and employers will be subject to progressive penalties depending on the number of offenses. There is no private right of action. For enforcement purposes, “an offense shall include one or more job postings for positions made by the same employer during a 48-hour period.”

Massachusetts’ requirements are not effective until July 31, 2025, but in recent years several states have enacted legislation requiring the disclosure of salary ranges and pay data. For example, in New York an employer, employment agency, employee or agent thereof must include compensation or the compensation range when advertising a job, promotion or transfer opportunity that will physically (at least in part) be performed in New York. California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Washington, DC also require employers to disclose — voluntarily or upon request — information about salary ranges for open positions or promotions.

In addition to states requiring disclosure of pay ranges, states such as Colorado are focused on increasing the visibility of job opportunities to employees and candidates. In addition to including pay information on postings, they want to ensure potential candidates are aware of such postings.

For more information, please refer to the Roundup: US employer resources on states’ recent equal pay laws.

As legislation continues to expand domestically, current and upcoming international changes such as the European Union directive on pay equity and transparency are driving several organizations to revisit their programs to take a more global approach. Recent research from Mercer’s Global Pay Transparency Survey reveals that 68% of organizations are developing their approach or have already implemented one. A recent webinar on this topic provides an overview of the international research.

Are jobs clearly defined?

• Is pay aligned to pay philosophy and market?
• Has the organization’s pay equity been analyzed?
• Are managers equipped to communicate pay ranges? 

• What will be shared (e.g., what elements of pay and total rewards)?
• Who will it be shared with — all employees, managers only, certain segments?
• How will it be shared?

• Job structures
• Gaps in pay equity and competitiveness
• Talent acquisition and employee communication technology
• Manager education and resources

• Job structures
• Gaps in pay equity and competitiveness
• Talent acquisition and employee communication technology
• Manager education and resources

• Applicants per opening, time to fill, offer acceptance rates
• Candidate surveys
• Employee engagement and perceptions
• Statistical modeling around turnover and other outcomes
  

• H 4890 (Legislature)
• Governor Healey signs wage equity legislation (Governor’s Office, July 31, 2024) 

• Roundup: US employer resources on states’ recent equal pay laws (regularly updated)
• Minnesota to require salary range and benefit disclosures in job postings (May 24, 2024)
• Washington, DC, to enhance wage transparency (May 14, 2024)
• Colorado amends equal pay requirements (Dec. 13, 2023)
• Illinois to require pay scale and benefits disclosure in job postings (Aug. 28, 2023)
• Hawaii to require pay disclosure in job listings, expands equal pay law (July 18, 2023)
• EU pay transparency law approved (May 30, 2024)
• New York to require salary ranges in job postings (March 9, 2023) 
• California to impose more salary disclosure, pay data reporting (Oct. 3, 2022)
• Salary information will be required in New York City job postings (May 4, 2022)
• Washington regulator clarifies new pay disclosure requirements (Dec. 19, 2019)