Executive Summary: On July 23,
Massachusetts lawmakers unanimously approved An Act to Establish
Pay Equity (the "Bill"), which seeks to ensure that men
and women are paid equally for comparable work. Variations in pay
must be based on legitimate reasons, as enumerated in the Bill. If
Governor Baker signs the Bill into law, which he is expected to do,
it will be effective in 2018, on either January or July
1.
Good Faith Defense Available: The Bill
provides for an affirmative defense for employers who have both
completed a good faith self-evaluation of their pay practices and
can demonstrate that reasonable progress has been made towards
eliminating compensation differentials based on gender for
comparable work in accordance with that evaluation. The
self-evaluation may be of the employer's own design and will
not be admissible in any proceeding as evidence of a violation that
occurred prior to the date the self-evaluation was completed or
within six months
