California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) continues to advance toward the March 31, 2021 pay data collection deadline. When SB 973 was passed in September, DFEH had six months to develop and implement a data collection system that could accomplish the task. It is delivering. DFEH issued its first guidance on November

Susan E. Groff
Susan E. Groff is a principal in the Los Angeles office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She is co-leader of the firm’s California Advice and Counsel resource group. The group delivers legal and practical guidance to assist employers in navigating what are frequently multi-disciplinary issues.
Susan counsels management on a host of labor and employment issues, including wage and hour laws, disability and leave management, harassment and discrimination complaints, workplace investigations, reductions in force, litigation avoidance, and discipline and termination questions.
Due to California’s nuanced and numerous disability and leave requirements, Susan dedicates much of her practice to advising employers on federal and California requirements for disability accommodation and protected leaves of absence. Importantly, she partners with employers not only on these technical disability and leave laws, but also on practical solutions in handling the same.
Susan also provides guidance to employers on California’s challenging wage and hour laws. In addition to day to day advice, she assists with employer audits, compensation plan reviews, and policies in this area.
California Issues Additional Guidance on What Pay Data Reports will Require
The deadline for employers to comply with California’s pay data reporting requirement (Senate Bill 973) and submit pay data to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) is March 31, 2021.
The DFEH has launched an information page that provides needed clarity on certain obligations and has issued additional guidance on the…
Pay Data Reporting: California is the Tip of the Spear
In a continued effort to reduce gender and racial pay gaps, on September 30, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 973, which creates massive pay reporting requirements for employers. In 2021, certain California employers will be required to submit annual information on its employees’ pay data by gender, race, and ethnicity…
Like EEO-1 Component 2, California Pay Data Reporting Stalls
With the future of the EEOC’s pay data collection efforts unclear, California’s effort to legislate its own race- and sex-based pay data reporting requirements likewise has stalled, for now.
Since July, California’s Senate Bill 171 (requiring private employers with at least 100 employees to submit an annual report of employee pay data broken…
California Pay Data Reporting Advances: EEOC May Not Be Alone for Long
The recent focus on the EEOC’s new Component 2 to its EEO-1 Report has been undeniable. It requires employers report on the race, ethnicity, sex, job type, pay, and hours worked data of its employees.
OMB approved this data collection during the Obama Administration. Then, under President Donald Trump, the OMB reversed course, staying the…
California Clarifies Ambiguous Language of Salary History Ban
California has enacted new legislation aimed at clarifying its law banning an employer from inquiring about a job applicant’s salary history information.
Assembly Bill 168 (codified as Labor Code Section 432.3) prohibits employers from seeking salary history of applicants for employment. Designed to eradicate the wage gap, AB 168 also requires employers to provide applicants…
California on Brink of Further Expansion of Fair Pay Protections
California’s legislature is close to passing three bills to expand the state’s fair pay laws. The bills, introduced in early 2017, were designed to expand upon, or clarify, the amended California Fair Pay Act (CFPA).
Click here for the full legal update to learn what the bills include.