Massachusetts adopts pay transparency law: What employers need to know

Massachusetts joined a growing list of states with pay transparency laws when Governor Maura Healy signed “An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency” into law. The law, which will take effect in stages in 2025, requires many Massachusetts employers to disclose salary/pay ranges in all job postings and to file certain wage data/information with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The law also protects a worker’s right to request salary/pay range information. The law is aimed at eliminating gender, racial, and other wage disparities, according to the Office of Labor and Workforce Development. Here’s what employers need to know.

Salary ranges

The law requires employers with 25 or more employees to disclose pay range information to both applicants and employees in a number of circumstances.

First, you must include the pay range, which is the “annual salary or hourly wage range that the covered employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for that position at that time,” in all job postings. These include “any advertisement or job posting intended to recruit job applicants for a particular and specific . . . position,” regardless of whether you recruit directly or use a third party.