Salary History and Equal Pay Laws Clarified
News of the Pay Privacy law prohibiting reliance on an applicant’s salary history in determining employment and pay hit the business world at the end of 2017 and went into effect in January 2018. Since pay is a large factor in the hiring decision, the new law raised many questions among business owners who are especially concerned about complying with California employment laws. Some of the common questions related to the salary history requirements and equal pay were: Is it legal to ask an applicant about their desired salary or salary requirement? Am I liable if an applicant voluntarily gives me their salary history or what they made a their last job? If an applicant voluntarily discloses their salary history, can I take that information into consideration? What about a current employee, I already know what they make, so can I take their salary into consideration to determine raises or pay for a new or different position? The conflict between California labor and employment laws and the practical questions that business owners must ask and take into consideration in order … Continue reading
Equal Pay Act Litigation – Salary History May Not Justify Wage Differential
In an Equal Pay Act opinion that is significant for employers in California, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and Hawaii, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, held: “prior salary alone or in combination with other factors cannot justify a wage differential. To hold otherwise – to allow employers to capitalize on the persistence of the wage gap and perpetuate that gap ad infinitum – would be contrary to the text and history of the Equal Pay Act, and would vitiate the very purpose for which the Act stands.” This decision came just one day before Equal Pay Day. April 10, 2018, this year’s Equal Pay Day, is the symbolic date to which an average woman working full time had to work to earn what her male counter-part earned in 2017 – an extra 99 days. Case Facts In Rizo v. Yovino, a female employee, Aileen Rizo, sued her employer, Fresno County Office of Education, when she learned that male colleagues who were hired into similar positions were placed in higher salary steps. This pay disparity was not because … Continue reading
New Law 2018 – Pay Privacy
“What did you make at your last job?” will be an illegal question when asked of a job candidate in 2018. California’s Governor Jerry Brown signed AB-168, the salary privacy bill, into law on October 12, 2017. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2018, and applies to all California employers regardless of size and whether they are in the private or public sector. There are three main parts to the new Section 432.3 of the California Labor Code: An employer shall not rely on an applicant’s salary history as a factor in determining whether to offer employment to an applicant or what salary to offer an applicant. An employer shall not, in any way, either directly or indirectly through third parties, seek an applicant’s salary history information (compensation and benefits). An employer, upon reasonable request, shall provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant applying for employment. However, employment applicants may voluntarily disclose their prior salary history (without prompting), in which case, the employer may use the voluntarily provided salary history in determining that applicant’s salary. … Continue reading