Your pay rights in Massachusetts

An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency (Wage Transparency Act), St. 2024, c. 141 (Mass. Gen. Laws c. 149, § 105F (pay ranges); c. 149, § 105A(c)(2) (pay history ban))

Job posting rules in effect since October 29, 2025

Employers with 25 or more Massachusetts employees must list a good-faith annual salary or hourly pay range in job postings. You can also ask for the pay range for a job you applied to, or for the job you already hold.

Who is covered

Public and private employers with 25 or more employees in Massachusetts. Headcount includes full-time, part-time, seasonal and temporary workers whose main place of work is Massachusetts, averaged over the prior year. Out-of-state employers are covered if they meet that count. The rule applies to postings for jobs whose main place of work is Massachusetts, including remote jobs tied to a Massachusetts worksite. It covers postings made directly or through a recruiter or other third party.

What a job posting must show

The annual salary range or hourly wage range the employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for the job at that time
For piece-rate or commission jobs, the piece-rate or commission range the employer reasonably expects to pay (per Attorney General guidance)

Pay history

Employers may not ask you, or your current or past employers, about your past pay until they have made you a job offer with pay.

What you can do

Ask for the pay range of a job you are applying for. The employer must tell you.
Current employees can ask for the pay range of the job they hold, even if no one is hiring for it.
If you are offered a promotion or a transfer to a job with different duties, the employer must give you the pay range.
Your employer cannot fire you or retaliate against you for asking, for complaining, or for testifying in a proceeding.
File a complaint with the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division. Only the Attorney General can enforce the pay range rules; you cannot sue over a missing range yourself.
You can sue over a violation of the pay history rule. Claims under the equal pay law must be filed within 3 years.

Where to report a posting without pay

Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, Fair Labor Division

First offense: a warning. Second offense: a fine of up to $500. Third offense: up to $1,000. A fourth or later offense falls under the state's general wage-law citations, which can reach $25,000 per violation (lower caps apply to employers never cited before). All postings an employer makes within a 48-hour period count as a single offense. Until October 29, 2027, employers get 2 business days to fix a problem after the Attorney General sends a notice to cure. The Attorney General can also get a court order.

Sources

The 2-business-day cure period (until Oct. 29, 2027) comes from an uncodified section of the 2024 law (St. 2024, c. 141, § 10), not from the text of § 105F; the Attorney General's guidance applies it until Oct. 29, 2027. The guidance says a range may run from the lowest to the highest pay the employer in good faith expects to pay. Separate pay-data reporting rules for employers with 100 or more employees aren't covered here.