On July 31, 2024, Governor Maura Healey signed into law An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency (H.4890), which aims to provide "equity and transparency in pay by requiring employers to disclose salary ranges and protecting an employee's right to ask for salary ranges."
The new law, going into effect on July 31, 2025, requires employers with 25 or more employees in Massachusetts to include the annual salary range or hourly wage range they reasonably and in good faith expect to pay when advertising job openings and when offering a promotion or transfer to a new position with different job responsibilities. The law also requires employers to provide the pay range for a particular position to an employee working in or applying for that position upon request. The law does not require employers to share pay data other than salary range or hourly wage range, meaning employers do not need to post information about bonuses, commissions, or other benefits that may be a part of a compensation package. It is also unlawful for an employee or applicant to be retaliated against for (a) enforcing their rights under the new law, (b) making a complaint about the employer regarding an alleged violation, (c) causing a proceeding under the statute to be instituted, or (d) testifying in any proceeding.
The attorney general's office has the exclusive jurisdiction to enforce these requirements, but an employee can bring an action against an employer if they are retaliated against in violation of this new law.
The law also creates wage data reporting requirements for employers with (a) more than 100 full-time Massachusetts employees and (b) EEO-1, EEO-3, EEO-4, or EEO-5 filing requirements.
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