Pay Range Now Required in Many California Job Listings

The governor of California signed a pay transparency bill into law last year that requires employers with 15 or more employees to include the pay range for every job posting and to publicly report pay for specific groups of employees. The underlying idea is – among other things – to help employers weed out any discriminatory pay practices they may engage in before they become a pattern. 

Discriminatory pay hurts employees, but an experienced San Francisco workplace discrimination attorney can help.

Pay Transparency

The pay transparency law requires employers to report wages across all the following characteristics:

• Race 
• Gender
• Position in the company

The new law requires HR departments to incorporate consistent protocols that ensure the pay scales used in job ads accurately reflect pay within the company. This includes implementing a system that vets job ads for legal compliance prior to publishing. Part of the process involves maintaining records of job ads for the period of time required by the law and documenting the pay history for each employee throughout their tenure – keeping the records for at least three years after employment ends. 

Salary Negotiations

It remains unclear whether the pay transparency law will directly affect salary negotiations for job applicants. While employers are required to set a pay range and to provide prospective employees with a basic idea of what a position is likely to pay, the size of the range itself can be significant. It’s important to also point out that employers are already barred from asking employees to divulge information related to prior salary history. 

By requiring employers to divulge salary ranges, the pay transparency law benefits employees by affording them a much better idea of what a competitive salary is in a specific line of work and by putting them in a much better position to negotiate better wages. Because salary information in relation to competitors is also more readily available to employees and prospective employees, employers may be moved to offer higher wages. 

Reporting Out

The pay transparency law also requires private employers with at least 100 employees to provide California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing with data related to the number of workers employed by race, sex, and ethnicity in each of the following job categories:

• Executive or senior-level managers and officials
• First or mid-level managers and officials
• Professionals
• Administrative support workers
• Sales workers
• Laborers and helpers
• Craft workers
• Operatives
• Service workers
• Technicians

The report must also explore the number of employees whose annual salaries fall within each of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics pay bands – according to race, sex, and ethnicity.   

Look to an Experienced San Francisco Workplace Discrimination Attorney for Needed Guidance

The accomplished San Francisco workplace discrimination attorneys at Minnis & Smallets have the keen legal skill, insight, and resources to help our clients prevail against discrimination in the workplace, including wage discrimination. We are here to help, so please don’t wait to contact us for more information today.