California Pay Transparency

The California legislature recently passed the most aggressive pay transparency measure in the United States, pushing along a bill that would require employers to post salary ranges in their job advertisements in addition to added requirements about how certain groups of employees are paid. If enacted into law, this bill could substantially assist employees in determining the acceptability of a position before spending considerable time in the application process. If you have suspicions about unfair pay or other issues in your workplace, call or contact an experienced California employment law attorney in your area today to learn more about your legal options.

Pay Transparency Bill

Under the new bill, California would become the third state and seventh jurisdiction in the country to require pay transparency in job postings for employers with 15 or more employees. The purpose of this bill is to give job applicants access to pay information before being lowballed by employers about pay expectations or wasting time applying for jobs that do not fit their wage requirements. Colorado and Washington state have already passed similar legislation in addition to specific municipalities like New York City.

This is not the first pay transparency bill passed in California, as in 2018 the state passed a law that requires employers to give external applicants a pay scale for jobs if they requested one after going through the interview process. However, data determined that very few applicants requested this information, either because they were not aware that they could or because they were uncomfortable asking at that point in the process. Under the new bill, not only must an employer include pay ranges in job postings, they can also ask for pay scales for their current position.

In addition to pay transparency in the hiring process, this bill also places additional requirements on employers to report pay and hours worked by gender, race, and ethnicity. This aspect of the bill would phase in over several years and only apply to employers with 250 or more employees. This data would be publicly available on a website for anyone to access. Employers would also be required to calculate the median and mean hourly wage for these categories of workers, but that information would not be made publicly available.

Benefits for California Workers

If this bill is passed into law, there are many potential benefits for California workers. Besides providing pay transparency in job postings and allowing applicants to avoid wasting time on certain job opportunities, this new bill would help improve accountability for employers and help identify issues of systemic pay discrimination for certain groups. To learn more about the benefits of this potential new law and how it may impact you, talk to a lawyer in your area today.

Contact a California Employment Lawyer Now

Do you have more questions about pay transparency or concerns about systemic pay discrimination where you work? Call or contact an experienced California employment lawyer in your area today to discuss your potential case.