Massachusetts Enacts New Pay Clarity Requirements

Massachusetts recently enacted the “Francis Perkins Pay Equity Act,” or “FPPEA to combat pay inequity. FPPEA goes into effect next year and will work along with the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act (“MEPA”), which has a parallel purpose and has already been in effect for several years. There are two main components of the law, which are each described below.

Pay Range Disclosure Requirements

Starting on July 31, 2025, FPPEA requires employers with 25 or more employees in Massachusetts to disclose pay ranges in three contexts:

In job postings
To employees who are offered a promotion or transfer to a new position; and
To any current employees or job applicants who request the disclosure.

“Pay range” is defined as “the annual salary range our hourly wage range that the covered employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for such position at that time.” Notably, disclosures of expected bonuses, commissions, or benefits are not explicitly required.

FPPEA has additional obligations for employers with 100 or more employees in Massachusetts that are already legally required to submit wage data reports (EEO-1, EEO-3, EEO-4, or EEO-5). Under FPPEA, these reports must now be submitted to the Commonwealth in addition to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). Frequency of submission varies based on whether the covered employer is private (annually) or a union, state or local government, or a qualifying school system (every other year). The first deadline for these submissions is February 1, 2025.

Massachusetts will collect, aggregate, and publish the data by industry. Although individual submissions will not be subject to state public records requests, they may be subject to discovery associated with litigation.

Available Enforcement Mechanisms

Notably, FPPEA does not allow for a private right of action, meaning that individuals cannot sue an employer for violations of the act. (MEPA, in contrast, does provide for a private right of action.)

Instead, the Attorney General’s Office will enforce FPPEA requirements through injunctive or declaratory relief and by imposing fines on employers that have been found to have repeatedly violated the law. Fines range from $500 (second offense) up to $25,000. Additionally, the Attorney General’s Office is required to educate employers about FPPEA through a public awareness campaign.