Pay equity on deck in 2016
Maura Healey, Massachusetts attorney general
One of the most popular bills filed this session, a pay equity bill supported by dozens of lawmakers, Attorney General Maura Healey and Treasurer Deb Goldberg, aims to close the wage gap for women and people of color and is slated to come before the Senate in their second formal session of the year on Jan. 28.
Filed by Sen. Patricia Jehlen, the Senate's pay equity bill (S 983) has 44 other cosponsors. More than 100 legislators signed onto a House version of the pay equity bill (H 1733).
The bill seeks to amend an existing state law requiring that men and women earn the same pay for equal work by specifically laying out criteria for what makes two jobs alike. It also bans employers from punishing workers for discussing wages and requires employers to include minimum salaries or wages in a job posting.
Under current law, men and women must be paid the same for work that is "like or comparable," allowing for differences in seniority. The pay equity bill defines positions as comparable if they "entail comparable skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions between employees of the opposite gender."
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