Boston Lawyer BlogMassachusetts Pay Transparency Law Goes Into Effect
Massachusetts Pay Transparency Law Goes Into Effect
In recent years, in an attempt to address concerns related to pay disparities across race, gender and other group classifications, several states have adopted various forms of pay transparency legislation. On a macro level, these laws represent an attempt to remedy pay gaps that have historically existed between workers of different demographic groups. Under a pay transparency regime, workers are provided easier access to information about the pay range of their job, which they are then able to utilize to their advantage when negotiating wages with their employers. On October 29, 2025, the pay transparency provision of “An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency” went into effect in Massachusetts, and Massachusetts joined the growing list of states that have adopted legislation aimed at increasing pay transparency in the workforce.
An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency
Governor Maura Healey signed “An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency” into law on July 31, 2024. The act is an amendment to the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act (MEPA), which went into effect on July 1, 2018. MEPA provides that employers may not pay workers a wage less than what they pay employees of a different gender for “comparable work,” or work that requires substantially similar skill, effort, and responsibility, and is performed under similar working conditions. The pay transparency amendment builds on some of the principles that were established with the adoption of MEPA and represents an attempt to increase workers’ bargaining power by reducing barriers to the access of wage information.
The pay transparency provision covers employers with 25 or more Massachusetts employees (including remote employees whose primary place of work is Massachusetts), and requires covered employers to disclose a pay range in any advertisement or job posting intended to recruit applicants for a particular and specific employment position. The act defines pay range as “the annual salary range or hourly wage range that the covered employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for such a position at the time.” Importantly, however, the pay transparency act covers more than just employers’ job postings. Under the act, covered employers must also disclose a “good faith” pay range to: (1) any applicant for a position, upon request; (2) current employees who are offered a promotion or transfer; and (3) current employees who request the pay range for their own position. Employees or applicants who exercise their rights under the act, by making a pay transparency inquiry or participating in a proceeding or initiating a complaint related to an alleged violation of the act, are further protected against any retaliation from employers for doing so.
The Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division is charged with enforcing the Wage Transparency Act. Employees who believe their rights under the Act have been violated can file a complaint with that office; they do not have a right to sue their employers for relief in court. The Attorney General’s office may enforce the act by obtaining injunctive or declaratory relief, and also may impose fines on employers who violate the act. There is a grace period: for the next two years employers can cure violations of the law within two business days of receiving notice of a violation from the Attorney General’s Office.
Relation to MEPA and other anti-discrimination laws
Although individual employees and job applicants may not enforce their rights under the pay transparency provision by filing a lawsuit, the increased access to wage information that employees benefit from under the act may allow them to better vindicate their rights under MEPA, which, as described above, allows employees who believe they are being paid unfairly for “comparable work” as compared to employees of another gender to file suit. Under MEPA employers do not need to intentionally discriminate to incur liability. Thus, an employee considering bringing a MEPA action may be able to better evaluate their potential MEPA claim by taking advantage of the new pay transparency provision to obtain information about the pay range for their job. Similarly, employees evaluating whether they are being discriminated against in pay based on other protected characteristics can gain valuable information about their pay relative to their co-workers’.
Overall, the pay transparency law is an important step in shoring up MEPA, and both current and prospective employees should generally see a boost in their bargaining power. Notably, however, the law does not require the disclosure of non-salary related benefits, which sometimes represent a significant portion of employee compensation. Furthermore, MEPA, by focusing only on pay discrepancies between genders for similar jobs, does little to address occupational segregation in the workforce, where different classes may work in different jobs and workplaces altogether. Regardless, the pay transparency provision clearly strengthens MEPA and other workplace anti-discrimination laws, and will force employers into having more of an open dialogue with employees regarding their compensation decisions.
If you are experiencing violations of your rights at work, please contact our employment lawyers at (617)-742-6020.
