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Washington: Equal Pay Law Expanded; Salary History Inquiries Now Prohibited

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July 28, 2019

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House Bill 1696 again expands Washington’s existing equal pay legislation, the Equal Pay and Opportunities Act (EPOA).  New amendments to the EPOA include (1) prohibiting employers from inquiring into job applicants’ prior salary history, and (2) requiring employers to provide salary range information to applicants and employees.

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Maine: Salary History Inquiry Ban and Equal Pay Update

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September 17, 2019

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Governor Janet Mills recently signed L.D. 278 prohibiting employer inquiries into the salary history of job applicants until after an offer of employment is made stating “all terms of compensation,” except where federal or state law otherwise requires disclosure or verification of compensation information for employment purposes. Any attempt to directly or indirectly (including through an employment agency) obtain compensation information from a job applicant before an offer of employment has been made, qualifies as unlawful employment discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act.

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Hold On to Your Hats – Expanded EEO-1 Pay Data May Need to Be Reported for 2018

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March 4, 2019

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A Washington, D.C. federal district court judge in National Women’s Law Center v. OMB recently stated that the previously revised EEO-1 report, including employee pay data, is the form employers should be using to submit their required Employer Information Report. In 2016, the EEOC proposed changes to its employer data collection requirements to add 12 pay bands for the 10 job categories that are tracked in EEO-1 reporting. After proposed revisions, the rule was approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the revised EEO-1 form was issued. However, following the 2016 presidential election, the OMB directed the EEOC to issue a stay of the form’s release, which it did, and the EEOC subsequently removed the revised EEO-1 form from its website.

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March Updates

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This Short List addresses the following topics:
  1. U.S. Supreme Court Reversed Ninth Circuit Equal Pay Ruling Based on Judge’s Death
  2. Fifth Circuit: Restated Its Position that Title VII Does Not Protect Sexual Orientation
  3. California: Guidance on New Agricultural Overtime Pay Requirements
  4. Alameda, CA: City Minimum Wage Increases to $13.50 in July, Regardless of Employer Size
  5. Florida: Miami Beach Minimum Wage Struck Down
  6. Illinois: $9.25 Minimum Wage by January 2020, With New Possible Penalties
  7. Minneapolis, MN: Minimum Wage Increase Approved
  8. New Jersey: $10 Minimum Wage in July 2019, $15 by 2024
  9. Westchester County, New York: Bans the Box
  10. Portland, Oregon: Prohibits Discrimination Against Atheists and Agnostics
  11. West Virginia: Federal Law Enforcement Pension Freed From State Taxes

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Illinois: Equal Pay, Expense Reimbursement, and Military Leave Updates

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January 1, 2019

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HB 4743 amended the Illinois Equal Pay Act to prohibit paying wages to an African-American employee at a rate less than wage rates paid to non-African-American employees for the same or substantially similar work on jobs that require equal skill, effort and responsibility, and are performed under similar working conditions, with limited exceptions.

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New Jersey: The State’s Equal Pay Law Will Soon Apply to All Protected Classes

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July 1, 2018

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New Jersey recently enacted stronger protections to its equal pay laws. Currently, employers are prohibited from discrimination in method or payment of wages based on sex. Effective July 1, 2018, this protection will soon apply to anyone in a protected class. The Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act prohibits paying any member of a protected class “at a rate of compensation, including benefits, which is less than the rate paid … to employees who are not members of the protected class for substantially similar work when viewed as a composite of skill, effort and responsibility.”

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November Updates

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This HR Alert addresses the following topics:
  1. Ninth Circuit: USERRA Does Not Prohibit Mandatory Arbitration
  2. Eleventh Circuit: Applicants Cannot Sue for Disparate Impact Under Specific ADEA Statute
  3. California: Cal/OSHA to Develop Indoor Heat Illness Standard
  4. California: Monetary Value of Accrued Vacation not Needed on Wage Statements
  5. California: (More) Amendments to the Fair Pay Act – Prior Salary Not Valid Justification

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California: Equal Pay Obligations Expanded to Cover Race and Ethnicity

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January 1, 2017

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California employers struggled this year to fully wrap their arms around the Fair Pay Act, which requires businesses to pay the same wage to employees of different genders who perform substantially similar work. Governor Brown has now signed the Wage and Equality Act of 2016 (the “Act”) into law, which adds workers of differing race or ethnicity as having the same protections similarly present under the Fair Pay Act.

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Massachusetts Significantly Boosts Pay Equity Laws and Requires Transgender Accommodations

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Governor Charlie Baker recently signed two bills that will significantly impact employer responsibilities: The Act to Establish Pay Equity, which boosts practices intended to close the gender wage gap, and the transgender public accommodations bill, which prohibits discriminatory advertising on the basis of gender identity and discrimination against transgender individuals in places of public accommodation.

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Maryland Significantly Expands Equal Pay for Equal Work Act

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October 1, 2016

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HB 1003 amends Maryland’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act of 2016 (“the Act”) to include significant new provisions designed to (1) prohibit pay discrimination based on gender identity, and (2) boost pay transparency.  The Act already prohibits wage differentials on the basis of sex, where employees “work in the same establishment and perform work of comparable character, or work on the same operation in the same business or of the same type.”

New, key amendments to the Act include:

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