© 2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2025 ed. | 165 Commonwealth annually by February 1.1007 The Secretary will then provide this information to the Massachusetts Department of Labor for the publication of aggregated data on its website by July 1 of each year.1008 Individual employer EEO reports will not be considered “public records” subject to disclosure under the Massachusetts Public Records Law. However, employers should be aware that such records may still be susceptible to discovery in litigation. The new law does not include a private right of action and is only enforceable by the Office of the Attorney General.1009 This is significant, as other states that have recently expanded pay transparency requirements, including Washington state, have already seen a swell of private lawsuits based on those new requirements. In enforcing the Massachusetts law, the Attorney General’s Office may seek declaratory or injunctive relief and impose fines for failing to submit EEO reports or failing to post or provide pay range information as required, as follows: First offenses for a violation of either the new law’s pay transparency requirements or data reporting requirements is subject only to a warning Second offenses are subject to a fine of not more than $500 Third offenses are subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 Fourth or subsequent offenses are subject to civil fines of $7,500 to $25,000 per violation, depending on the circumstances1010 The Act states that for enforcement purposes “an offense shall include 1 or more job postings for positions made by the same employer during a 48-hour period.” Accordingly, each posting made within a 48-hour period will not be considered a separate offense. This is particularly helpful to large employers who often have multiple job postings at any given time. In addition, to avoid any doubt about the Legislature’s intent to avoid creating onerous litigation under the statute, the new law specifically states that violations are not subject to treble damages under the Massachusetts Wage Act.1011 1007 Id., § 105E(b)(1) 1008 Id., § 27(b)(i)-(iii) 1009 Id., § 105E(e)(1) 1010 Id., § 105F(f)(2) 1011 Id., § 105F(f)(3)
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