A law passed last year – An Act Relative to Salary Range and Transparency (the “Act”) – is scheduled to take effect October 29 and will require certain private employers to disclose wage ranges in job postings.
What Is Required?
Under the Act, employers with 25 or more employees in Massachusetts will be required to:
- Include pay ranges in job postings for all positions in the state. While the Temporary Workers’ Rights law already required pay rates to be included in jobs sent to candidates for temporary work in Massachusetts, this new law is not limited to temporary workers and will now require pay ranges to be included in all job ads posted by covered employers.
- Provide pay ranges to employees offered a promotion or transfer to a new position with different job responsibilities.
- Provide current employees the pay range for their current position if the employee requests it.
The Act further includes an anti-retaliation component protecting employees and applicants from being retaliated against for exercising their rights under the Act.
Potential Penalties
For the first two years the law is in effect (until October 29, 2027), employers will have a grace period of 2 business days upon receiving notice of a violation to correct the problem without facing a fine. Employers found to have violated the Act are subject to a warning for the first offense, up to a $500 fine for a second offense, up to a $1,000 fine for a third offense, and even higher penalties (up to $25,000) for fourth or subsequent offenses in accordance with M.G.L. Ch. 149, § 27C(b)(1-2). The Act is enforced by the Massachusetts Attorney General. There is no private right of action under the law.
MA AGO’s FAQs
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has issued FAQ’s relating to the Act, including:
- Which Employers are Covered: Employers with 25 or more employees whose primary place of work is in Massachusetts during the prior calendar year fall under the Act. Full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary workers are included in determining employee count for this purpose as long as their primary place of work was Massachusetts. The AGO advises employers to calculate their headcount once per year as an average over all of the payroll periods of that year.
- What Job Postings are Covered: The pay transparency requirement applies to all positions where the primary place of work is in Massachusetts, including positions that can be performed remotely to a Massachusetts worksite and remote workers with a primary place of work in Massachusetts.
- What is a Pay Range: The pay range required in the posting is the annual salary or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for such a position at that time. The range may extend from the lowest to the highest annual salary or hourly wage the employer reasonably and in good faith believes it would pay for the job at the time of the posting.
The Act additionally established new EEO reporting requirements in the state which started earlier this year and which we described here.