Employment Law Commentary, August 2016

MASSACHUSETTS PASSES GENDER EQUITY LAW – A HARBINGER OF THINGS TO COME?

By Ashley Nakamura

On August 1, 2016, Massachusetts became the first state to pass a law barring employers from asking applicants to disclose their salary history before offering a job. Proponents of Massachusetts' bipartisan legislation hope this law will remediate the nationwide gender pay gap; according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, women are paid 79 cents for every dollar that men earn.¹ The Massachusetts law, which will go into effect in July 2018, aims to reduce that gap by preventing employers from "low-balling" female applicants — who traditionally have earned less than their male counterparts — during salary negotiations by offering them a wage based on their previous salary. Similar laws have been contemplated or introduced in multiple states, including California, and may hint at the beginning of a nationwide trend.