Massachusetts just passed the most powerful equal pay law in the country

Massachusetts job seekers, say goodbye to those awkward (and frankly, kind of touchy) salary conversations that regularly come up in interviews. Last month, the Massachusetts Legislature unanimously passed the strongest equal pay law the United States has ever seen, and it could make interview questions about your compensation history a thing of the past.

As any job seeker or HR representative can attest, many employers require applicants to provide a salary history, typically to determine how much they should be paid and whether the employer can afford their salary. But under Massachusetts’s law, employers will be prohibited from asking prospective hires about their salary histories until after they make a job offer that includes compensation — unless, of course, the applicants choose to disclose the information.

Moments before signing the bill on Aug. 1, Gov. Charlie Baker said the legislation will help ensure that in Massachusetts “people are paid what they are worth based only on what they are worth and not on something else.”

The gender pay gap could crumble

The state also made a gigantic leap toward closing the gender wage gap. The new law states that employers must pay men and women the same not just when they do the exact same work, but when their work is “comparable.” Massachusetts defines this as work that is “substantially similar” in skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions — not just based on job titles or descriptions. However, the law does allow for shifting pay scales based on merit, production, geography, education, experience, training or seniority — as long as a lack of seniority isn’t related to pregnancy or family leave.

Both aspects of the law could have major repercussions on the way women are paid in the future. Because women can be paid less than their male counterparts (full-time female workers make 79 cents for every dollar earned by men), supporters say the practice of asking for a salary history can help perpetuate a cycle of lower salaries for women. Since employers will no longer be privy to salary history under the new law, women could have the same chance of moving up the pay scale at the same rate as men.

Employers could become more transparent

Additionally, the new law bans salary secrecy, which blocks employers from keeping their employees from talking about pay with each other. By opening up the traditionally taboo question of “how much do you make,” this new measure will help bring to light pay discrepancies that can be faced by women and minorities.

“Every worker in the state of Massachusetts — regardless of their gender — deserves to be paid fairly for their work,” Shilpa Phadke, senior director at the Women’s Initiative at the Center for American Progress, said in a statement. “The provisions included in this bill provide concrete steps to help dismantle the gender pay gap by providing greater pay transparency and encouraging employers to take a more active role in identifying and addressing pay disparities.”

While some states have made similar attempts in legislating equal pay, no other state has a law of this stature in place. So far, several other states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Oregon — have enacted gender pay equity measures over the past two years. But Massachusetts is the only state to put a ban on asking for salary histories.

Massachusetts’ employers have until July 1, 2018, to implement these changes.

So until then, play your cards right, always tell the truth and use your salary history as a way to market yourself when you’re applying for jobs.