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Updated: Pay Equality Bill Signed Into Law (California A.B. 1676)


Readers might remember a piece of legislation that had been pending in California earlier this year.  Assembly Bill 1676 was introduced in the state legislature and sought to prevent employers from asking about an applicant's prior salary history and bar an applicant's salary history from justifying a gap in wages between men and women.  By the time A.B. 1676 cleared the Senate, the only major part of the bill that remained was barring employers from using prior salary history, alone, to justify a difference in wages.  Based upon this bill signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on Friday, employers could still use prior salary history as a factor in determining wage rates...but simply could not use solely the prior salary history factor to make its determination.  

As proponents of this bill have long argued, this legislation was necessary to eliminate pay discrimination in the state.  Although it does not go as far as many would have liked (considering how the Senate stripped the bill down before it passed), it is certainly a step in the right direction.


For additional information:   http://www.record-bee.com/general-news/20160930/pay-equity-bill-signed-into-law

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