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.

Posted in Workplace Policies and Procedures
Tags: job posting, pay transparency
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Photo of Lexie Reynolds Lexie Reynolds

Lexie Reynolds is an associate in the Labor & Employment Law Department, and a member of the Employment Law Counseling & Training, Employment Litigation & Arbitration, and the Discriminatory, Harassment, and Title VII Practice Groups. Lexie’s practice covers a wide range of matters…

Lexie Reynolds is an associate in the Labor & Employment Law Department, and a member of the Employment Law Counseling & Training, Employment Litigation & Arbitration, and the Discriminatory, Harassment, and Title VII Practice Groups. Lexie’s practice covers a wide range of matters with a focus on internal corporate and government investigations. She has represented private and public companies, boards of directors and their committees, and individuals across many different industries including entertainment, financial services, and technology.

Lexie has advised and assisted clients in a variety of internal investigations as well as government enforcement actions involving the DOL, DOJ, and SEC. She has litigated matters at the administrative, state, and federal level, including a federal court trial. She has experience in matters involving Title VII discrimination, fraud, whistleblower activity, and retaliation.

Lexie is also dedicated to pro bono work and has represented individuals at the state administrative, federal court, and appellate levels including matters involving discrimination, veteran benefits, and immigration. Additionally, she has volunteered her time each year to mentor middle school students in a mock trial program aimed at developing public speaking, self-confidence, and awareness of legal rights.

While in law school, Lexie litigated criminal matters, representing juvenile and adult individuals in state court. Additionally, she interned at the Boston Juvenile Court and the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate.

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Photo of Mark W. Batten Mark W. Batten

Mark W. Batten is a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Class & Collective Actions Group.

Mark represents employers nationwide at all stages of complex employment litigation, including class and collective actions on wage and hour matters…

Mark W. Batten is a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Class & Collective Actions Group.

Mark represents employers nationwide at all stages of complex employment litigation, including class and collective actions on wage and hour matters and discrimination claims. Ranked by Chambers USA, Mark is hailed as “a fabulous lawyer, handling interesting and complex cases.” Clients “highly recommend him to anyone seeking litigation counsel in the Boston area,” as well as note “he is responsive, pragmatic and team-oriented, and offers excellent legal advice.”

He assists clients with all aspects of employment policies and practices, including hiring, termination, leaves, accommodation of disabilities, and other matters. Mark also handles diverse civil litigation, including litigation of noncompetition agreements, ERISA matters, discrimination and wrongful termination litigation in federal and state courts; proceedings before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination; wage and hour matters; and labor arbitrations. He is also an experienced appellate attorney both in employment cases and other civil litigation, handling appeals at all levels in the state courts and in the United States Courts of Appeals.

Mark also has substantial experience with traditional labor matters. He regularly represents employers in a variety of industries, including a number of newspaper and media companies, in collective bargaining, practice before the NLRB, labor arbitrations, union organizing campaigns, and day-to-day advice on administration of collective bargaining agreements. He regularly advises clients in both union and non-union settings on diligence matters in corporate acquisitions and financings. He also has experience on behalf of securities firms in arbitrations before the NASD and NYSE of customer and employee complaints.

Mark also practices on behalf of newspapers and other media in newsroom litigation, including libel defense and representation of reporters under subpoena, and has substantial experience in litigation involving access to sealed records and judicial proceedings on behalf of media companies.

Before joining Proskauer, Mark was a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, where he was lead counsel in major litigation for over two dozen federal agencies, ranging from the U.S. Air Force, the CIA, and the U.S. Secret Service to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Mark regularly writes and lectures on employment-related matters, including, for instance, MCLE’s Representing Clients Before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

In his spare time, Mark is an experienced computer programmer, conversant in C, C++, and other languages. He has ported software between computer operating systems and has published several commercial computer games.

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