Effective July 31, 2025, Massachusetts public or private employers with 25 or more employees will be required to disclose salary ranges on job postings and provide pay range information to current employees in specific situations. The bill also requires employers with 100 or more Massachusetts employees to annually submit EEO and pay data for aggregated public reporting by the Massachusetts Department of Labor. The first submission of pay data is required by February 1, 2025, and by February 1 of each year thereafter.
Key highlights of the wage disclosure and pay data reporting requirements are as follows:
Wage Disclosure Requirements
Similar to wage disclosure laws in other states, this bill defines “pay range” as the annual salary or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably and in good faith expects to offer for a position at the time of posting.
Employers will be required to proactively include the following in job postings:
- The “pay range” for the specific position in all job advertisements.
- The pay range for positions offered as promotions or transfers with new job responsibilities to employees.
In addition to proactive disclosure, employers must provide the pay range for a position to current employees holding that position or to applicants upon request.
Job postings are defined as any advertisement or posting intended to recruit candidates for a specific employment position, whether posted directly by an employer or indirectly through a third party.
Pay Data Reporting Requirements
The bill mandates that private employers with 100 or more employees in Massachusetts during the previous calendar year must submit an annual EEO data report, consistent with the current data required for EEO-1 reporting including workforce demographics in addition to pay data categorized by race, ethnicity, sex, and job category.
Unions, state and local governments, and K-12 school systems (i.e., those covered by federal EEO-3, EEO-4, or EEO-5 requirements) must submit similar information biannually.
The state will establish a web portal for the submissions along with sample reports and instructions for submission.
Additional Information
The bill’s antiretaliation provisions prohibit covered employers from discharging or in any other manner retaliating or discriminating against an employee or applicant for exercising their rights under the law.
Failure to comply may result in penalties from the state’s attorney general ranging from a flat fine of $500 to $1,000 or $7,500 to $25,000 per violation based on the number of offenses committed by an employer.
The state’s attorney general will be conducting an awareness campaign and developing and posting compliance assistance resources on its website.
Next Steps
Covered employers who do not yet have established wage ranges should start developing them. Best practices include reviewing external and internal recruiting practices related to job postings and examining compensation practices to ensure wage ranges align with industry and market data. This helps with market competitiveness and employee retention. Additionally, employers should review and update job descriptions, or create them if none exist.
Employers should be ready to justify any pay differences for employees with the same job title or description using allowable reasons, such as seniority, merit, education, training, experience, or performance. Conducting a pay equity audit may also be beneficial to identify any pay disparities that are not based on bona fide factors.
Employers should ensure their EEO-1 data collection and filing processes are reviewed and ready for submission by the February 1, 2025 deadline.
Given the growing complexity of state and local pay transparency and wage disclosure laws, consulting with legal counsel for best practices and compliance guidance is highly recommended.
How HR Works Can Help
HR Works offers Compensation & Pay Equity solutions that help employers stay compliant and ensure fair pay practices within their organization. Contact us to learn more about how we can assist you with meeting Massachusetts’s wage disclosure requirements and reporting obligations.
HR Works will continue to monitor this topic and provide updated information as it becomes available.
