MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE PASSES WAGE
EQUITY LEGISLATION
Bill boosts salary transparency, tackles unfair
compensation for women and people of color
(BOSTON—7/24/2024) Today
the Massachusetts Legislature 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.”
“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.”
Having passed both chambers, the bill
now goes to the Governor’s desk for her signature.
