Yes. Under the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act, an employer that completed a good faith review of its pay practices, and made reasonable progress fixing gender pay gaps it found, has an affirmative defense to equal pay and Chapter 151B pay discrimination claims. The Appeals Court affirmed summary judgment for a state employer on that defense because the employee offered no evidence to dispute it. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
The employee, a woman, was hired in 2015 as a compliance officer who investigates complaints against licensed nurses. Under state hiring guidelines, starting pay depended on years of comparable experience. She was credited with ten years and started at grade 13, step 6. In 2019 and 2020 the employer hired two men into the same job. It credited one with over thirty years and the other with over twenty-five years of comparable experience, mostly from law enforcement work, and placed them at steps 12 and 14, with higher starting salaries.
In late 2019, following state guidelines, the employer conducted a self-evaluation of all its bargaining unit positions to check pay for employees of different genders doing comparable work. The review found seven employees with possible pay gaps, and their salaries were raised. It found no improper gap between the employee and the male compliance officers. In June 2020 she sued under the Equal Pay Act and Chapter 151B. The Superior Court granted summary judgment for the employer.
What the court decided
The Appeals Court affirmed in Woodward v. Board of Registration in Nursing, No. 24-P-1086 (Mass. App. Ct. December 31, 2025) (Rule 23.0 decision).
The law. G.L. c. 149, § 105A (b), bars employers from paying someone less than employees of a different gender for comparable work, unless the difference rests on listed factors such as seniority, merit, or job related education, training or experience. Section 105A (d) gives an employer an affirmative defense to that claim, and to any pay discrimination claim under G.L. c. 151B, § 4, if within the three years before the lawsuit it completed a good faith self-evaluation of its pay practices and can show reasonable progress toward eliminating gender based pay gaps, if any, under that evaluation.
Timing. The employee did not dispute that a review took place. She argued it was not finished in time. The court disagreed. Emails, spreadsheets, the state guidelines and a human resources affidavit showed the review was done by late November 2019, months before she sued. She pointed to deposition testimony from the employer’s designated witness who could not give a completion date. The court held that testimony did not create a dispute, because the deposition notice never listed the self-evaluation as a topic, and the testimony did not contradict the other evidence.
Good faith. The record showed the review was done in good faith. The employee’s conclusory denials were not enough to avoid summary judgment. See Halbach v. Normandy Real Estate Partners, 90 Mass. App. Ct. 669 (2016). When asked in an interrogatory to explain why the defense did not apply, she objected, said discovery was ongoing, and never supplemented her answer.
Reasonable progress. The review identified seven employees and raised their pay. That was evidence of reasonable progress, and the employee offered nothing that contradicted it.
Because the defense applied, the court did not decide whether her pay was in fact unequal. The court noted that discovery had focused on the pay claims rather than the defense, and that on a different record the defense might well be in dispute.
What this means for you
This is a loss for the employee, and it shows a trap. If your employer has done a pay equity self-evaluation, that review can end your case before anyone looks at whether you were underpaid.
The defense is not automatic. The review must be done in good faith, within three years before you sue, and the employer must show real progress on the gaps it found. But you have to test each of those points with evidence. Here discovery focused on the underlying pay claims, not on the employer’s review, and that left the employer’s evidence unanswered.
If you think you are paid less than a coworker of a different gender for comparable work, ask early whether your employer has done a self-evaluation, and treat it as a central issue in the case.
What to do now
- Write down your job duties, start date, pay, and what you know about coworkers doing comparable work.
- Find out whether your employer completed a pay equity self-evaluation, when, and what it changed.
- If you sue, aim discovery at the review itself: its scope, its timing, and any raises that followed.
- List the self-evaluation as a topic in any notice to depose the employer’s designated witness.
- Answer interrogatories fully, and supplement them when you learn more.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. Deadlines for discrimination and employment claims can be short.
