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Massachusetts pay transparency law: the salary range and job posting rules

Since October 29, 2025, Massachusetts employers with 25 or more employees in the state must publish a pay range in every job posting: the annual salary or hourly wage range they reasonably and in good faith expect to pay. A separate rule makes employers with 100 or more Massachusetts employees file their federal EEO wage data with the state each year. The Attorney General enforces both.

This page covers who is covered, what a compliant Massachusetts pay range looks like, the penalties and the two-year cure period, and how to build a posted range you can defend. Build one below in about a minute.

Last updated July 2026 / General information, not legal advice

Pay band builder Sample data
02 · Market
03 · Seniority
04 · Company stage
No. / At a glance / 01

Massachusetts pay transparency, in one table

Obligation Who it covers What you must do Exposure
Pay range in job postings 25 or more employees in Massachusetts Include the annual salary or hourly wage range in every posting, including ones a recruiter or job board publishes for you. Warning, then $500, then $1,000, then c. 149 § 27C
Range on promotion or transfer 25 or more employees in Massachusetts Give the pay range to an employee offered a promotion or transfer to a role with different responsibilities. Same penalty ladder
Range on request 25 or more employees in Massachusetts Give the pay range to an applicant, or to a current employee who holds the role, on request, even with no open vacancy. Same penalty ladder
EEO wage data report 100 or more MA employees who already file a federal EEO report Submit your existing federal EEO report (EEO-1 and, by role, EEO-3/4/5) to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, annually by February 1. Same penalty ladder; no new data to collect

Source: An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency, Chapter 141 of the Acts of 2024, codified at M.G.L. c. 149 §§ 105E and 105F, and the Attorney General's pay transparency guidance on Mass.gov. Summarized here for planning, not as legal advice.

No. / What it says / 02

The four points that decide compliance

01

The range is a good faith estimate

The pay range is defined as the annual salary or hourly wage range the employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for the position at that time. A token $40,000 to $250,000 span on a defined role is not a good faith estimate. Benefits are not required in the posting, only the pay range.

02

A two-year cure period

For the first two years after each requirement takes effect, an employer gets two business days after notice of a violation to fix it before a fine can be imposed. For the posting rule that cure window runs until October 29, 2027. It is a grace period, not a permanent shield.

03

The AG enforces, employees cannot sue

The Attorney General has exclusive jurisdiction, and the statute rules out treble damages. There is no private right of action for a posting or reporting violation, though retaliation against an employee or applicant who complains is separately unlawful.

One more detail worth knowing: for posting violations, all the job postings an employer makes in a 48-hour window count as a single offense, so a bulk of non-compliant listings is one step up the penalty ladder, not dozens.

No. / Method / 03

How to build a Massachusetts pay range you can defend

Good faith is an evidentiary standard, so the safe version of a posted range is one with a paper trail: a market source, a date, and a documented reason for every adjustment. The four steps below are the ones an Attorney General inquiry actually tests.

  1. Step 01

    Benchmark the role against market percentiles

    Start from percentile wage data for the occupation and the Massachusetts metro you hire in, not from a competitor's job ad. Public BLS OES data gives you P25, P50 and P75 for the Boston and Springfield areas, which is the shape of evidence a regulator understands.

  2. Step 02

    Set the band, then slice the posted range from it

    Build the internal band first, typically a 30 to 50 percent spread around the midpoint, then publish the slice you would genuinely pay a new hire at that level. The internal band can be wider than the posted range. The posted range cannot be wider than your honest intent.

  3. Step 03

    Write down why you adjusted

    Geographic tier, company stage, scarcity of the skill: any of these can move a band, and all of them are defensible if they are written down and applied consistently. An undocumented adjustment applied to one candidate is the fact pattern that becomes a pay equity claim.

  4. Step 04

    Refresh on a fixed cadence

    A good faith estimate made against three-year-old data stops being good faith. Review bands at least annually, more often for engineering and sales roles, and keep the old versions so you can show what you knew when you posted.

Do it now

Wagelist turns a role, a market, a seniority level and a company stage into a P25/P50/P75 band and a posting-ready range built on public U.S. BLS wage data, with the methodology attached. Use the builder at the top of this page, or read the full method behind salary bands.

See how posted ranges work
No. / Context / 04

How Massachusetts compares to the other posting states

Massachusetts sets a higher headcount bar than most (25 employees, versus one in Colorado or four in New York) and keeps enforcement with the Attorney General rather than opening the door to private lawsuits. If you hire across state lines, the strictest rule you touch sets the floor.

State Employer threshold Must the ad show pay? Benefits disclosure?
Massachusetts 25 or more Yes, pay range in the posting No
California 15 or more Yes, pay scale in the posting No
Colorado Any employer with a Colorado role Yes, pay or pay range Yes, general benefits description
New York 4 or more Yes, compensation range No, but job description if one exists
New Jersey 10 or more Yes, pay range Yes, general description of benefits

The practical answer for a multi-state employer is one national band per role and level, with a documented geographic multiplier, so every posted range comes out of the same structure. The full state-by-state breakdown lives in our guide to pay transparency laws by state.

No. / FAQ / 05

Massachusetts pay transparency questions

Does Massachusetts require salary ranges in job postings?

Yes. From October 29, 2025, employers with 25 or more Massachusetts employees must include the pay range in any job posting, including ones a recruiter or job board runs for them. The range is the annual salary or hourly wage the employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay. The rule sits in M.G.L. c. 149 section 105F.

How many employees trigger the Massachusetts law?

Twenty-five for the posting requirement, counted as employees whose primary place of work is Massachusetts. A separate wage data reporting duty starts at 100 Massachusetts employees who already file a federal EEO report. Both thresholds count in-state headcount, not a nationwide total.

What is the penalty for a violation?

The penalties escalate: a first offense is a warning, a second is a fine up to $500, a third is up to $1,000, and a fourth or later offense falls under the general wage enforcement penalties in c. 149 section 27C. For the first two years, employers also get two business days to cure a violation after notice.

Does the law cover remote jobs?

It covers positions whose primary place of work is Massachusetts, including remote roles tied to a Massachusetts worksite and remote employees based in the state. A fully out-of-state worker does not count toward the threshold, and a role that could not be performed from Massachusetts is outside the rule.

Can an employee sue over a violation?

No. The Attorney General has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce the law, and the statute rules out treble damages, so there is no private right of action for a posting or reporting violation. Retaliation against an employee or applicant who complains is separately prohibited.

Who has to file the Massachusetts EEO wage data report?

Employers with 100 or more Massachusetts employees that already file a federal EEO report submit that same report to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, annually by February 1. It creates no new data collection; it reuses the federal EEO-1 (and, by employer type, EEO-3, EEO-4 or EEO-5) you already produce.

No. / Related / 06

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