Thanks to a new law recently signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, California companies with more than fifteen (15) employees will now be required to report a list of salary ranges for all job postings and to make that same information available to existing employees.
Senate Bill 973, signed in 2020, previously required only California employers with more than one hundred (100) employees to provide detailed pay information to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing annually. Companies that failed to do so were subject to fines of up to $100 per day. Senate Bill 1162, which takes effect on January 1, 2023, now expands on this previous legislation and requires all companies with 15 or more employees to make this same wage data available for all job postings (both internal and external).
The movement behind this new law is to assist both prospective and existing employees to identify pay inequity within a company, as pay transparency is often seen as a critical tool in reducing gender and racial pay gaps in the workplace. Indeed, employees armed with this wage information can now use it to assist or gain leverage in negotiating pay as well as to help identify pay inequity and potential discrimination in the workplace.
Under this new law, workers can also file a grievance if they believe a company is violating the law and employers that break the law can face stiff penalties of $100 to $10,000 per violation.
If you believe that you have been the victim of pay inequity and discrimination in the workplace, please feel free to contact our office for a free consultation with an experienced employment law attorney to discuss your options.
