frequently asked questions
For decades, women and people of color have borne disproportionate responsibility for achieving equity in MA, and in no place has that been more evident than in the workplace. Even after years of focus on helping them build their qualifications, skills and work experience, substantial gender and racial wage gaps for these workers exist today and contribute to both wealth and daily standard of living gaps.
HD 2814 and SD 1521 call on employers to disclose salary ranges when hiring for a position, and to employees who ask for them. HD 4039 and SD 2331 require companies and municipalities to submit their federally required EEOC data to the Mass. Secretary of State’s office. This information would then be combined at the State level to provide aggregate reporting of wage gaps within business sectors that can be seen and understood. We can not change what we do not measure.
Massachusetts is losing workers, and building a vibrant, competitive economy calls for creating workplaces where workers know (not feel) they are being paid fairly and have fair opportunities to advance. These bills create such workplaces and studies around workplace pay transparency prove it.and
Together, these bills impact longstanding structural
biases in a workplace which result in racial and gender wage gaps. Recognizing that every workplace is different, when enacted these bills will enable CEOs to modify their workplace practices to create equitable environments. In the tight labor market in MA, this can give an employer a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining the best employees.
No, this bill only requires employers send copies of the report they file with the EEOC to the MA Secretary of State.
No, this legislation protects employers from liability beyond that which the EEOC may initiate based on their filing.
California is the only state requiring EEO-1 reports to be filed with the state. No information from these reports is public. CA uses EEO-1 files strictly for state litigation purposes. MA legislation is not punitive. Instead, it enables employers to achieve systemic change in hiring, pay, and promotion to be competitive in their sector.
Many more states have legislation pending, but currently CA, CO, CT, MD, NV, NJ, NYC, OH, RI, WA all have variations of salary range disclosure required.