Massachusetts Pay Transparency Law: What Employers Need to Know Before February

Last July, Massachusetts joined a growing number of states mandating that employers provide pay transparency to employees. The Massachusetts pay transparency law also includes a wage data reporting component that requires covered employers to submit EEO-1 reports to the Commonwealth on an annual basis. As the Feb. 3, 2025, deadline to file EEO-1 reports nears, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development has released frequently asked questions (FAQs) to help employers comply with the wage data reporting aspect of the new law.

Key Takeaways

• The Massachusetts pay transparency law was drafted to mirror the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC's) reporting requirements, including a prior wage data reporting obligation that entailed submitting W-2 income earnings by race/ethnicity, sex, and job category. Significantly, the EEOC has not required the wage data reporting component since 2018. Thus, the FAQs confirm that the Commonwealth will still accept EEO-1 reports and will not require any additional information at this time.
• Only employers with at least 100 employees in the Commonwealth at any time during the prior calendar year are subject to the reporting requirement (the threshold drops to 25 for the disclosure of pay ranges in job postings).
• The statute provides that the initial wage data report is due by Feb. 1, 2025, and annually on the same date thereafter. If the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, however, it will be extended to the next business day. Since Feb. 1 falls on a Saturday this year, reports will be accepted until Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. The other EEO reports are due by the same deadline but on a biennial basis: EEO-3 and EEO-5 this year, and EEO-4 next year.
• Employers must submit the report in PDF, JPG, or PNG format to the Secretary of State's office through the web portal: EEO Wage and Workforce Data Reports.
• By June 1, 2025, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development will publish the inaugural wage and workforce data report.

In addition to the impending wage data reporting deadline, employers should continue to prepare for the pay disclosure requirements that go into effect in October 2025.

Employers should be reviewing (or implementing pay ranges) for various job categories and evaluating whether employees are properly compensated within the established pay ranges. We expect additional guidance on the pay disclosure requirements.