/>iThe deadline for filing the first year of Massachusetts EEO-1 pay data reports is February 1, 2025, but covered employers are still waiting for Massachusetts to publish guidance on this requirement. This means that with less than one month before the deadline, there is no official guidance on what information must be provided or how this filing requirement must be completed.
However, we have confirmed with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) that covered employers will need only submit their most recent EEO-1 filings, and not provide any wage data. The EOLWD expects to issue more detailed guidance, possibly as soon as by the end of this week.
Quick Hits
- On July 31, 2024, Governor Maura Healey signed into law legislation requiring Massachusetts employers with one hundred or more employees and subject to EEO-1 reporting obligations to provide a pay report to Massachusetts by February 1 of each year.
- Covered employers are required to complete their EEO-1 pay reporting by February 1, 2025.
- Massachusetts has not yet issued guidance on how exactly this reporting will be completed, but wage data will not be required and instead only the most recent EEO-1 will need to be submitted.
The upcoming pay reporting requirement is a result of the Frances Perkins Workplace Equity Act signed into law by Governor Maura Healey on July 31, 2024.
Covered Employers/Wage Data Reports
The EEO-1 pay data reporting obligations under the act apply to private employers with not less than one hundred employees in Massachusetts at any time during the prior calendar year and that are subject to EEO-1 reporting obligations. These “covered employers” are required to submit their EEO-1 data report, referred to by the statute to as a “wage data report,” for the prior year (i.e., 2024). However, the statute does not provide a clear definition of what constitutes a “wage data report,” or what information needs to be provided with respect to this obligation.
Questions About the Reporting Process
Until Massachusetts issues guidance, covered employers will not know how they can satisfy their reporting obligations, but the EOLWD has confirmed that there will be no separate wage data reporting obligations. There have been questions from the time this legislation was signed into law about how these reports will be completed, as the statute anticipates the filing of EEO-1 reports containing wage data information (commonly referred to as EEO-1 Component 2), but these reports have not been filed since 2019 despite some recent talk about their revival.
As noted, the EOLWD has advised that Massachusetts will only require employers to provide copies of previously filed EEO-1 reports, even though these reports contain no pay data. This approach would be in line with the statutory language (which assumes implementation of the EEO-1 Component 2 wage data reporting), although the collection of wage data reports and publication of aggregate wage data were cited by the governor’s press release discussing this law. The EOWLD has also indicated that in the event that the EEOC does reinstate the EEO-1 Component 2 wage data reporting in the future then those reports will need to be filed.
While there has been some speculation that Massachusetts could create its own pay reporting system, absent a requirement by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that does not appear to be the case. Wage data reporting might be required in the future required if the act is amended, or if Component 2 is revived. But for now, covered employers in Massachusetts can breathe a sigh of relief that more onerous and new data reporting obligations will not be required.
Mechanics/Filing Penalties
The expected guidance, once issued, is expected to address the mechanics of how these filings can be completed and submitted. Covered employers will want to note that compliance failures could result in penalties ranging from a warning for an initial violation, a $500 fine for a second violation, and a fine of $1,000 for a third violation.
