On July 31, 2024, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed the "Frances Perkins Workplace Equity Act," a significant step towards pay transparency in the state. This new legislation imposes crucial requirements on employers, aimed at promoting fair pay practices and reducing wage disparities.

In a landmark move, the Massachusetts legislature has passed a significant bill promising to bring a new level of transparency to the hiring process. The bill, known as an Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency, requires employers with 25 or more employees to disclose salary ranges when posting job positions. This legislation is set to make Massachusetts the eleventh state to mandate such pay transparency, a step that many believe will help close the gender and racial wage gap.

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As an HR leader, embarking on the pay equity journey isn't just a regulatory obligation — it's an opportunity to align your human resources practices with your organization's deepest values of fairness and transparency. This journey will challenge you to scrutinize and refine your compensation strategies, ensuring that every employee's pay is not only compliant with the law but is also a true reflection of their value and contribution to the company.

Pay transparency laws continue to gain traction in the United States as a measure to address the persistent gender pay gap and promote fair compensation. By shedding light on compensation practices, pay transparency empowers employees to make informed career decisions and encourages employers to conduct fair and equitable pay practices. Many employers are also adopting the principles of pay transparency for strategic reasons, as a way to strengthen and differentiate their talent practices.

The March release of the EEO-1 Component 2 dashboard by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sparked a new wave of interest in U.S. pay gaps and potential concerns for businesses. This new data portal allows users to explore pay data from large employers across various industries, broken down by race, ethnicity, gender, and job category. The data from 2017 and 2018 EEO-1 collections offers unprecedented transparency into workforce demographics and compensation practices.

Revision identifies how OFCCP will evaluate compliance with compensation obligations and clarifies their authority to request and review support documentation