BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts businesses with 25 or more employees would be required to disclose a salary range when posting a job under a bill approved by state lawmakers Wednesday,
The legislation would also protect a worker’s right to ask their employer for the salary range for a position when applying for a job or seeking a promotion.
The bill is now on Democratic Gov. Maura Healey’s desk.
If signed by Healey, the legislation would make Massachusetts the 11th state to mandate pay transparency by requiring employers to disclose salary ranges, supporters said, citing data from the National Women’s Law Center.
Backers said the bill would build on a 2016 state law, which prohibited wage discrimination based on gender.
“With the passage of this legislation, Massachusetts is now one step closer to ensuring equal pay for equal work,” Democratic House Speaker Ronald Mariano said in a statement. “Pay transparency will not only make our workplaces more equitable, it will also make Massachusetts more competitive with other states.”
Democratic Senate President Karen Spilka said it’s too common for women and people of color to be paid less than their coworkers nationwide, and Massachusetts is not immune.
The bill also requires businesses with more than 100 employees to share their federal wage and workforce data reports with the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
The agency would then be responsible for compiling and publishing aggregated wage and workforce data to help identify gender and racial wage gaps by industry.
In Greater Boston, the 2023 gender wage gap was 21 cents, according supporters of the legislation, pointing to the Boston Women’s Workforce Council.
This gap becomes more pronounced when comparing white men and women of color with Black women facing a 54-cent wage gap and Hispanic and Latina women facing a 52-cent wage gap, according to the group. Asian women face a 19-cent wage gap.
