Yesterday, Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey signed into law An Act relative to salary range transparency (H.4890), a bill that has long been supported by the Women’s Bar Association. This important legislation is a step forward in closing wage gaps for women, and especially for communities of color in the Commonwealth. As one of the many organizations that partnered with the Wage Equity Now Coalition, the Women’s Bar Association (WBA) was honored to receive an invite and have representatives of its Legislative Policy Committee attend the signing at the State House yesterday.

The WBA’s Legislative Policy Committee worked closely with fellow members of the Wage Equity Now Coalition to garner support from legislators to move this bill through both the House and the Senate. The bill was highlighted as priority legislation by the WBA at this year’s annual legislative breakfast, and the WBA submitted a letter of support to Senate President Spilka in the final weeks of the legislative session urging immediate attention to this imperative bill. 

This legislation will require public and private employers with 25 or more employees to disclose pay ranges in job postings, provide pay range of a position to an employee who is offered a promotion or transfer and, on request, provide the pay range to employees who already hold that position or are applying for it. Employers with 100 or more employees will also be required to submit wage data reports to the state, which

Governor Healey, who long supported wage equity legislation during her former role as Massachusetts Attorney General, thanked the Legislature, advocates, labor unions, and the business community for their hard work in seeing this bill through over the past six years. Governor Healey also noted that, while Massachusetts is rated the best state to live in as a woman, there is still work to do, stating, “We know being number one isn’t good enough if you’re a woman in this state and making 79 cents on the dollar, if you’re a black woman earning 54 cents on the dollar, or if you’re a Latina woman earning 42 cents on the dollar.” 

Also present at the ceremonial signing of the bill was former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor, and Co-Chair of the Wage Equity Now Coalition, Evelyn Murphy, who noted that with the signing of this bill Massachusetts will now be able to honor its commitment to women and people of color working in the Commonwealth. 

WBA President Alexandra A. Mitropoulos praised the signing of this legislation and highlighted the importance this bill will have in the law, stating: “While every workplace is different, wage gaps have been especially apparent in the traditionally male-dominated legal workforce. The WBA is thrilled that the passage of this bill will now allow women and people of color, especially women of color, in the law to be fairly and adequately compensated.”