A new law mandates current and prospective employees be provided with a pay scale for their job upon request.
Starting in 2023, employers in California with more than 15 workers will have to disclose salary ranges on their job listings, according to a new law states.
Signed by California governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday (Sept. 27), the law not only mandates pay transparency during job hunts but also on the job. All employers in the Golden State will have to provide workers with a pay scale for their current job upon request.
The private sector has long kept pay scales hush-hush, likely to avoid an onslaught of lawsuits. But the practice has cost minorities dearly, fanning discrimination for years. While job listing portals like Glassdoor or Indeed include pay estimates for larger companies, exact information has rarely been readily available. The new law will ideally make California’s 200,000 companies with 15-plus employees more equitable. Over on the east coast, New York is also putting a similar pay transparency law into practice come November with the same hope.
🎧 For more intel on sharing salaries, listen to the Work Reconsidered podcast episode on pay transparency. Or subscribe via: Apple $AAPL Podcasts | Spotify $SPOT | Google $GOOGL | Stitcher.
“This is a big moment for California workers, especially women and people of color who have long been impacted by systemic inequities that have left them earning far less than their colleagues... As we continue to build a sustainable economy, we must ensure every worker is paid equitably.” —California state senator Monique Limón
88 cents: how much women make for every dollar men make in California
63 cents: how much Black women earn for every dollar a white man makes in California
$87 billion: how much women in the state lose to the pay gap every year, according to the national partnership for women and families
36%: share of women who were top earners at 100 California companies in 2020
3%: share of Black folk at the highest end of the pay scale—those making $128,960 or more—in 2020. Hispanic and Latino workers represented just 9% of this group. White people comprised half of the category, and Asians a third
Companies with more than 100 employees need to maintain records of wage rates, and they must submit a yearly pay data report broken down by race, sex and ethnicity for each job category on or before the second week of May.
A whole bunch of California-headquartered corporate giants have faced pay discrimination lawsuits in the recent past. To name a few from this year:
🍔 California’s “fast food bill” could give service workers more power
Join 500,000+ readers who start their day with Quartz.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
