AAUW PUBLIC POLICY CONVERSATIONS – APRIL 2024
The annual recognition of Equal Pay Day is a frustrating reminder of persistent pay discrimination based on many causes, one of which has been asking female job applicants what their last salary was. Currently, 22 states now ban the use of salary history in the hiring process because it may continue the trend of undervaluing labor and experience. In 2024 now ten states require the posting of compensation ranges as part of job advertisements.
One way to address this practice would be for Congress to pass H.R. 1599, the Salary Transparency Act supported by A.A.U.W. H.R.1599 was introduced in the U.S. House with three primary objectives for private sector employers:
1/ Require employers to disclose salary ranges in all job postings.
2/ Provide protections against retaliation and remedies for applicants and employees.
3/ Establish penalties for employers who violate these requirements.
The states who are passing pay transparency laws include bans on the use of salary history to set wages, requirements to post pay ranges in job announcements, and mandatory pay data collections.
This February the Biden Administration proposed new regulations barring federal contractors and subcontractors from using job applicants’ salary histories when determining who to hire and how much to pay them. New “contractor” rules were published in the Federal Register the same day as a new rule similarly barring the practice at federal agencies. The changes were announced on the 15th anniversary of the enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009.
President Biden said, “Women workers are still paid on average 84 cents for every dollar paid to men, and the disparities are even greater for many women of color. Today my administration is taking new actions to advance pay equity for the federal workforce and employees of federal contractors. These new actions adopt commonsense policies that will help pay millions of workers fairly, close gender and racial wage gaps, and yield tangible benefits for the federal government and federal contractors. These policies are good for workers, our economy and for families.”
New requirements mandate contractors and subcontractors to disclose the salary range of an open position when advertising the job. A deadline was set for October for federal agencies to comply.
Lilly Gioia
Public Policy Chair