Business groups support House pay equity bill

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By State House News Service

A business group whose members employ 250,000 people in Massachusetts has declared its support for gender-based pay equity legislation that's expected to clear the House on Thursday afternoon.

Massachusetts Business Roundtable Executive Director JD Chesloff said the group's members have "identified equity and diversity as essential elements of a healthy, productive and successful workplace" and said the House bill "strikes a careful balance between the workers it seeks to protect and the employers who would have to implement it."

Chesloff singled out Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia Haddad and Attorney General Maura Healey for their work on the bill, which was identified Monday by Gov. Charlie Baker as one of six major bills he's hoping lawmakers will send to his desk before formal sessions end July 31.

Another business trade group, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which expressed concerns about the Senate's version of the bill, also declared support Wednesday for the House bill, saying it was the product of "weeks of intensive negotiations among AIM, House leaders at Attorney General Maura Healey."

"The legislation is intended to promote salary transparency, limit upfront questions to job candidates about salary history, and encourage companies to conduct reviews to detect pay disparities," AIM'S Brad MacDougall wrote on the group's blog Wednesday. "Unlike the overly proscriptive bill passed by the Senate in April, the House version explicitly recognizes legitimate market forces such as performance and the competitive landscape for certain skills that cause pay differences among employees."