Section 10. In order to make investigations under section six, members or employees of the department or the attorney general’s office may at any time enter places of employment, other than places of employment of persons engaged in domestic service in the home of the employer, when being used for business purposes.

This section of the Massachusetts General Law prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of gender in the payment of wages. Employers are required to pay employees of different genders equal rates for comparable work. However, variations in wages are allowed based on seniority, merit, quantity or quality of production, sales or revenue, geographic location, education, training or experience, and regular and necessary travel. Employers who violate this section may be liable for unpaid wages and liquidated damages.

Section 105B. Any employer who violates any provision of sections one hundred and five A to one hundred and five C, inclusive, or who discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because such employee has made any complaint to his employer, the attorney general, or any other person, or instituted, or caused to be instituted, any proceeding under or related to said sections, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceedings, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.

Section 105C. For the purpose of enforcing the provisions of sections one hundred and five A to one hundred and five C, inclusive, the attorney general, or his authorized representative, may enter places of employment, other than places of employment of persons engaged in domestic service in the home of the employer, may inspect pay rolls, may compare character of work and operations on which employees are engaged, may question employees, and may take such other action as is reasonably necessary to determine compliance therewith.

This section of the Massachusetts General Law governs parental leave rights and benefits for employees and employers in Massachusetts. An employee who has completed the initial probationary period or has been employed for at least 3 consecutive months as a full-time employee is entitled to 8 weeks of parental leave for giving birth or adopting a child. The employee must provide at least 2 weeks’ notice to the employer. Upon returning from leave, the employee should be restored to their previous or a similar position with the same status, pay, length of service credit, and seniority.

Section 106. All industrial establishments and every person engaged in carrying on a construction project shall provide fresh and pure drinking water to which their employees shall have access during working hours. Any person owning, in whole or in part, managing, controlling or superintending any industrial establishment or construction project in which this section is violated shall, on the complaint of the local board of health, the selectmen of a town or an inspector, be punished by a fine of one hundred dollars.

Section 107. The water used for humidifying purposes by any person operating a factory or workshop shall be of such a degree of purity as not to give rise to any impure or foul odors, and shall be so used as not to be injurious to the health of persons employed in such factories or workshops. Whoever violates this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than one thousand dollars.

This section of the Massachusetts General Law governs the use of thermometers in weaving and spinning departments of textile factories where water is introduced for humidifying purposes. It requires the provision and maintenance of at least one set of standardized wet and dry bulb thermometers for recording and regulating the humidity and temperature. If required by an inspector, two sets of thermometers may be necessary. The thermometers must be placed as directed by an inspector and be visible to the workers.

Section 109. The preceding section shall not apply to textile factories equipped with such a number and type of standardized self-registering hygrometers, or psychrometers, or such a hygrometric system as the department approves, or using the sling hygrometer frequently to determine the actual moisture and temperature of the weaving or spinning department; provided, that the manner of using all such instruments or such system is approved by the industrial health inspector in whose district the factory is situated, and that the records of the readings from said instruments or system are not destroyed without the knowledge and consent of such inspector.

Section 11. The department may require every physician treating a patient whom he believes to be suffering from any ailment or disease contracted as a result of the nature, circumstances or conditions of the patient’s employment to report such information relating thereto as it may require, within such time as it may fix, and it may issue a list of such diseases which shall be regularly reported upon by physicians, and may add to or change such list at any time.