On Aug. 1, 2016, Massachusetts Governor Baker signed into law the “Act to Establish Pay Equity.” The new law is intended to address the gender wage gap by strengthening the pay disparity prohibitions under existing law. The Pay Equity Act also provides employers the opportunity to assert an affirmative defense to wage claims based on the employer’s good faith self-evaluation of its pay practices. The new law does not go into effect until July 1, 2018, but particularly in light of the affirmative defense, employers should consider a self-evaluation study in advance of 2018.
Definition of Equal Pay for Comparable Work
The Pay Equity Act amends Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 149, Section 105A to provide a definition of “comparable work” as “work that is substantially similar in that it requires substantially similar skill, effort and responsibility and is performed under similar working conditions.” The new law also specifies that “a job title or job description alone shall not determine comparability.”