There are administrative and legislative developments likely to change the landscape of gender pay discrimination claims in Massachusetts. Under the state’s Equal Pay Act (passed in 1945) and existing case law, a successful plaintiff must demonstrate the following: (1) the duties of the two jobs being compared have key common characteristics; and (2) the jobs involve comparable skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
A bill recently passed by the State Senate (unanimously) would preserve the second prong of proof but eliminate the requirement that job duties be substantially comparable. If enacted, it would usher in an era of comparable worth litigation, with cases being directly filed in the Superior Court (no filing at MCAD required) and prevailing plaintiffs recovering attorney’s fees and costs.
A related development is the Attorney General’s act of sending demand letters to private employers, under the 1945 Equal Pay Act, seeking a wide range of information about demographics and job description details, ostensibly to determine if there are gender or racial disparities. There is no reason to believe that public employers will be immune from such inquiries or from litigation if the Equal Pay Act amendment is enacted.
