Beginning July 1, 2018, employers in Vermont will be prohibited from requiring a prospective employee to disclose his or her salary and benefit history before making an offer of employment, with compensation, under legislation (H.B. 294) signed by Governor Phil Scott on May 11, 2018. Click here to read our full article regarding Vermont’s salary … Continue Reading
Philadelphia’s ban on salary history inquiries violates the First Amendment, a federal district court in Philadelphia has ruled in a 54-page opinion. The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia v. City of Philadelphia et al., No. 17-1548 (Apr. 30, 2018). Because the decision is based on the First Amendment, it has broader implications for salary … Continue Reading
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act into law on April 24, 2018. The Act will take effect on July 1, 2018. The new law contains sweeping changes to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), including a prohibition against discrimination with respect to compensation or financial terms of … Continue Reading
New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo continues his push to address the gender pay gap in New York. The latest is the release of a Department of Labor report commissioned by the Governor that recommends legislation barring all employers, public and private, from asking or searching for prospective employee’s salary history. In January 2017, the … Continue Reading
New York’s Westchester County is the latest locality to adopt legislation prohibiting employers from asking prior salary histories of a prospective employee. Click here to read our full article regarding Westchester County’s salary history ban.… Continue Reading
On April 24, 2018, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy plans to sign the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act (the “Act”) into law. Senate Bill S-104, reintroduced in this legislative session, contains sweeping changes to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), including, among other items, a prohibition against discrimination with respect to compensation or … Continue Reading
Prior salary alone or in combination with other factors cannot justify a wage differential between male and female employees under the Equal Pay Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has held in an en banc decision. Click here to read our full article regarding the 9th Circuit’s decision.… Continue Reading
The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) has published a report based on the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data showing that women earn 80 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts across 97% of occupations. The report finds the wage gap is due in part to the fact that women are overrepresented in … Continue Reading
On March 26, 2018, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill that prevents local governments from regulating the questions employers may ask of applicants during job interviews. The bill amends a 2015 law that prohibited local governments from banning salary history inquiries on job applications. With this amendment, Michigan essentially has blocked local governments from … Continue Reading
The fight for equal pay transcends country borders. International consensus on closing the pay gap took a significant step when, in late-2017, during a United Nations General Assembly meeting, the International Labor Organization (ILO), United Nations Women, and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) launched a global partnership focused solely on pay equity … Continue Reading
The Washington Legislature has sent Governor Jay Inslee a proposed Act that would significantly broaden the state’s Equal Pay and Opportunity Act. The Governor is expected to approve it. Pay Equity and Gender Following Title VII principles, the Act defines “similarly employed” as jobs requiring “similar skill, effort, and responsibility… performed under similar working conditions.” … Continue Reading
As posted last week, on March 1, 2018, the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General issued its much anticipated guidance on the state’s new pay equity law, set to take effect on July 1, 2018. The Attorney General’s Guidance does not have the legal force of a regulation but provides clear insight into how the … Continue Reading
Today, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office published its long-awaited guidance on Massachusetts’ new pay equity law, which is effective July 1, 2018. The guidance addresses a number of frequently asked questions and further provides guidance for employers on conducting “self-evaluations” of pay practices. A link to the Attorney General’s guidance is found here. Jackson Lewis … Continue Reading
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal projects that both the EEOC and OFCCP will be “doing more with less.” Consequently, the agencies plan to focus resources. As set forth in the Budget Justification for OFCCP: OFCCP’s FY 2019 priorities support the agency’s efforts to enforce the law by emphasizing high-impact systemic cases and expand contractor compliance … Continue Reading
In the fight for equal pay, which has spanned from the legal stage to the center stage, one Canadian company has decided to address the pay gap, at least temporarily, through dueling magazine cover prices. Maclean’s, a popular monthly Canadian news magazine that reports on current political affairs and pop culture, is asking men to … Continue Reading
As previously reported here, in November 2017, following the Office’s of Management and Budget (“OMB’s”) “immediate stay” of the EEO-1 pay data reporting requirement, the National Women’s Law Center (“NWLC”) and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (“LCLAA”) filed a lawsuit to reinstate the EEO-1 pay data reporting requirement, asserting OMB lacked the legal … Continue Reading
At the start of 2018, a group of powerful women in Hollywood launched the “Time’s Up” initiative to counter systemic sexual harassment and discrimination and address broader issues affecting women, including fair pay in the workplace. In support of its goals, the initiative includes a legal defense fund to help women protect themselves from sexual … Continue Reading
In his first official act upon taking office, newly elected Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order barring state agencies from asking job applicants about wage history. Former Governor Chris Christie previously vetoed legislation that would have prohibited employers from requesting salary history information from prospective employees. Effective February 1, 2018, state agencies are prohibited … Continue Reading
In recent months, several states and localities have passed laws and ordinances banning inquiries into an applicant’s prior compensation, including in California, Massachusetts, Delaware, New York City, Oregon, Puerto Rico, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. There are similar laws currently under consideration in a number of other states, and this topic is bound to be a … Continue Reading
Just when it appeared settled that EEO-1 Pay Data reporting was no longer on the table, advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit to reinstate the rule. In November, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement filed suit against the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Equal Employment … Continue Reading
For some workers, the bulk of their income is commissions or other incentive-based pay, not their salary or base wage. For years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, sales employees, and class action plaintiff attorneys have been interested in fair pay for sales workers and, in particular, pay discrimination involving female sales workers. A recent EEOC … Continue Reading
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has long supported measures related to pay equity. In 2015, he signed a pay equity law that prohibited an employee from being paid a lower wage on the basis on gender. Similarly, in early 2017, Cuomo signed an executive order prohibiting state agencies from making pre-employment offer inquiries about a … Continue Reading
‘Tis the season . . . for state legislatures to close for the year. While we’re seeing legislative activity at the state level slow down, the past few months brought a flurry of activity in the area of pay equity and bans on salary history inquiries. Here is a recap of recent activity and noteworthy … Continue Reading
As discussed in an earlier post, effective October 31, 2017, New York City employers generally may not inquire about or rely upon a job applicant’s salary history in making employment decisions. The New York City Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR) previously released an Employer Fact Sheet and a Job Applicant Fact Sheet to assist employers … Continue Reading
