Mass. may soon require more pay transparency in job postings and workplaces

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We take two days off from sending this newsletter (two days!), and suddenly the president is dropping his reelection bid, Boston’s mayor is pregnant and everyone is talking about coconut trees.

Before we review what happened while we were gone, let’s look to today’s news:

How much does that job pay? Massachusetts is on the verge of giving jobseekers more insight into how much money they should expect to make when applying for a new job or asking for a raise. Beacon Hill lawmakers plan to vote today on a compromise salary transparency bill — one of the flurry of bills lawmakers are sending to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk before the legislative session ends next week. (Healey’s office says she “has long supported efforts to make pay and hiring more equitable and transparent” and looks forward to reviewing the bill.) Here are three things it would do.

1. All job postings by employers (businesses, nonprofits, government entities, etc) with 25 or more workers would be required to include the wage or salary range for the position being advertised. The requirement takes effect a year after the bill is signed. While the bill doesn’t set specific guidelines for the range, it must be a “good faith” reflection of what the employer plans to pay.
2. The bill would also require those same employers to share the pay range whenever an employee is getting promoted or transferred to a new position — and it gives workers the right to request info on their current job’s salary range at any point.
3. Finally, the bill would require employers with 100 or more workers to file (already federally required) employment data with the state, so officials can better track local wage gaps.

Ok, now for a speed round of local news that happened while we were off:

Massachusetts’ top Democrats have rallied around Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presidential nominee, following President Biden’s historic decision to step aside. Harris got the unanimous endorsement of all 116 delegates that the state party plans to send to the Democratic National Convention next month.

Massachusetts residents can once again get their cars inspected. The RMV announced inspections will resume today, after the statewide system was knocked offline by last Friday’s massive tech outage. The RMV is also giving an extension to anyone whose cars failed inspection and needed a retest this month. (If that’s you, get it done before Aug. 10.)

The Healey administration is placing even more limits on access to the state’s emergency shelters through major changes to the system’s waitlist and overflow sites. Click here for the details on the new restrictions (which take effect next Thursday) and the options for families in need.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is expecting her third child (and first daughter), but says it won’t affect her reelection plans.

Karen Read’s retrial has been scheduled to start in late January, though her lawyers will be back in court in a few weeks to push for the dismissal of two of the three charges against her.

Massachusetts and four other New England states got a $450 million federal grant aimed at encouraging residents to install electric heat pumps.

Taunton Mayor Shauna O’Connell was arrested for allegedly biting her husband and hitting him with a small “crowbar/gasket cleaner.”

TD Bank is planning to close seven (of its 135) branch locations in Massachusetts, including two in Boston. Boston.com has the list.

P.S.— We had some big local names on Radio Boston reacting to this week’s bombshell political news. Listen to Wu’s full interview on Monday and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s appearance on Tuesday.