Massachusetts Equal Pay Act
This law took effect on July 1, 2018. Under the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act (MEPA) employers cannot discriminate against employees because of their gender.
The law provides a complete defense for employers that, within the previous three years, has conducted a good faith, reasonable self-evaluation of its pay practices.
What do employers need to do?
Massachusetts employers should perform pay equity analyses in accordance with the provisions laid out by MEPA. More information can be found here.
What factors are recognized in MEPA as appropriate to account for pay differences?
Factors recognized in MEPA include seniority, merit or performance, the quality or quantity of production, education, training, experience, geographic location, and travel.
Our consulting service
In accordance with MEPA, the pay equity analysis should group together comparison employees who perform "comparable work", which is work requiring a substantially similar skill, effort, and responsibility and is performed under similar working conditions. For employees performing comparable work, we will compare base pay rates by gender utilizing the factors recognized by MEPA. We have been assisting clients comply with MEPA since its creation in 2018 and can also assist with organization-wide analyses.
