Massachusetts was the first state in the US to pass an equal pay law, all the way back in 1945, and the Legislature updated it in 2016 to prohibit employers from asking job applicants for salary history, prohibit employers from banning discussion of wage information, and require equal pay for comparable work.
But gender- and race-based pay gaps continue to exist in the workplace, and the House and Senate have taken action to strengthen the equal pay in response.
The Frances Perkins Workplace Equity Act, named after the first female Secretary of Labor in the US, would require employers with 25+ employees to disclose the salary or wage range for a position in all job postings, provide the salary range to employees offered promotions and transfers, and provide the pay range to employees for their current roles if requested.
It would also require covered employers with 100 or more employees to supply wage and demographic information to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. You can’t fix the inequities you do not see.
Earlier this month, on October 4, the House voted 148 to 8 to pass this bill.
The 8 NOs were all Republicans: Donnie Berthiaume (R-Spencer), Nicholas Boldyga (R-Southwick), David DeCoste (R-Norwell), Marc Lombardo (R-Billerica), Kelly Pease (R-Westfield), Michael Soter (R-Bellingham), Alyson Sullivan-Almeida (R-Abington), and Steven Xiarhos (R-Barnstable).
Yesterday (October 19), the Senate voted 39 to 1 to pass the bill, with the sole NO being Republican Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton).
