Latest News in Pay Transparency and Minimum Wage Increases
Pay Transparency and Minimum Wage Increases: Are You Prepare to Meet the New Challenges?
If You Post A Job, You Must Post A Salary Scale
Starting in May and following a national trend in other major U.S. cities, New York City’s employers will be required to post salary ranges in their job postings. The law exempts temporary staffing firms as they provide this information to potential candidates. The legislation, meant to help correct pay inequities and discrimination, will make it unlawful not to include in job listings the minimum and maximum salary offered for any job in New York City. The range for the listed maximum and minimum salary would extend from the lowest to the highest salary that the employer, in good faith, believes it would pay for the advertised job, promotion, or transfer. Other municipalities are likely to follow as the law is a more significant trend toward pay transparency.
Pay Equity Efforts in the Public Sector Suffers a Setback
In a setback to proponents of workforce progressive policies, a law requiring board quotas from publicly traded companies with HQs in CA was declared unconstitutional. The law, Assembly Bill 979, signed in 2020 by Gov. Gavin Newson, set forth to increase boards’ composition by requiring publicly traded companies to have board members from underrepresented communities, including people of several races and ethnic groups and people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Proponents of the law argued that adding underrepresented groups to the board would aid racial and justice equality in the workplace. However, Judicial Watch, a D.C. nonprofit conservative advocacy group, filed a lawsuit in 2020, arguing the law’s racial, ethnic, sexual preference and gender-based quotas violated the state’s constitution’s equal protection clause. In response, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry Green ruled that the law violated the state constitution.
Gender Pay Equity – Trending in the Wrong Direction
An initial analysis of proxy compensation disclosure by Equilar, a firm specializing in data-driven solutions for business development, board recruiting, and executive compensation, suggests that gender pay gaps increased in 2021, and in doing so, the gains recorded in 2019 and 2020 have essentially disappeared. According to an initial review of proxy statements relative to 2021, the median pay for women CEOs in the Equilar 500 was $11.8 million, or 18% lower than the median $14.5 million awarded to men. The initial figures seem to follow a two-year compensation difference between men and women. In reviewing past proxy information by gender, data suggests that the average pay for women went from $12.2 million in 2019 to $11.8. The average compensation for men has moved from $12.2 to $14.5 million for the exact period. Even though public and private companies work to adopt pay equity policies, the conversation around gender equity will likely grow louder. Also, this may activate boards and regulatory agencies for measures to minimize the gains achieved in the last few years.
Minimum Wage To Increase, Again, In Parts of Los Angles County
In time for most companies’ budgeting season, companies in the unincorporated part of Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles will need to manage another new round of increases to their minimum wage scale. The minimum wage in unincorporated LA County will be increasing from $15.00 to $15.96 per hour on July 1, 2022. The ordinance applies to employees who work at least two hours a week within unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. The minimum wage in the City of Los Angeles will increase from $15 to $16.04. The wage scalation index, tied to consumer prices, and part of the City’s effort to curb poverty, has spiked considerably over the last few months, pushing the City to boost hourly rates above those in the County. This latest increase is a continuation of the annual increases that began in 2016 and now apply to all employers regardless of employee count. The minimum wage will continue to increase each year on July 1 based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.
March 14, 2022