Philadelphia Enforces Salary History Ban, Starting Today

In 2017, a law was passed in Philadelphia wherein employers were prohibited from requesting an applicant’s salary history. After three years, as of September 1, this law will finally be put into action. In August, the City of Philadelphia declared that Philly’s Commission on Human Relations (PCHR) would begin the enforcement a month later, as…

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The Right And Wrong Measures Of Diversity and Inclusion

There’s an overall awareness in the working world, now, where discrimination and wage disparity are merely two of the issues coming to light that have affected organizations and their employees for decades. Employers have begun adopting best practices to which they can remedy some of these issues and rectify certain errors that have prevented specific…

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Banning Salary History: One Step Toward Establishing Pay Equity

Anyone who has ever completed a job application remembers the dreaded portion requesting salary history. It was a trap, really, as potential employers were able to contact the former jobs of their applicants and request that history themselves. So even if you desired more money, it was nearly impossible to request that without contractual pushback.…

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The Difficulty in Identifying Comparators for Equal Pay Claims

Pay equity litigation is proceeding apace despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and claimants are raising critical issues pertaining to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (“EPA”). The EPA requires that an employee claiming gender-based wage discrimination first demonstrate that employees of the opposite sex were paid different wages for substantially equal work. To show that the…

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Salary History Ruled Not a Defense in Equal Pay Case

A recent federal court ruling solidifies the prohibition on employers in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington from using salary history as an affirmative defense to an equal pay claim. On February 27, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Rizo v. Yovino, a decision prompted by the case of…

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Disney Fighting Class-Action Status for Pay Discrimination Lawsuit

A pay discrimination lawsuit against Walt Disney Company claiming the entertainment company has violated the California Equal Pay Act has expanded to include ABC Television, as well as Disney’s music label and film studio. Lawyers for the plaintiffs are seeking class-action status. Andrus Anderson, the San Fransico law firm representing the two employees who initially…

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Minimum Wages Are Increasing Across America

Minimum Wages Are Increasing Across America

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made a point of announcing that he raised the minimum wage for staffers working on his campaign to $15 an hour to make a statement. One might argue that this makes Sanders a trendsetter among his Democratic colleagues seeking the party’s nomination for president. However, it can be argued just as…

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Oregon State is Subject to its Own Equal Pay Law

Oregon State is Subject to its Own Equal Pay Law

As state lawmakers work to implement the state’s 2017 pay equity legislation before its January 2019 deadline, a lawsuit involving Cheyenne Ross and her employer, the State of Oregon, may be a harbinger of the challenges the state may face. Oregon has one of the more stringent equal pay requirements in the country, including measures…

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