{"id":244071,"date":"2022-05-09T17:09:57","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T00:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/?p=244071"},"modified":"2022-05-09T23:10:12","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T06:10:12","slug":"pay-transparency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/_ko\/economy\/2022\/05\/pay-transparency\/","title":{"rendered":"Are California companies about to get more transparent?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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California legislators are advancing two bills that would require companies to report more data about pay and internal practices. Business groups oppose the bills and say the data could be taken out of context.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n

Update: On September 27, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 1162<\/a>, a pay transparency measure that would require employers with 15 or more workers to include salary ranges in job postings, into law. Before the bill made it to his desk, though, lawmakers removed a key provision: a requirement that the state publicly post businesses\u2019 pay data, broken down by position, race and gender. AB 2095<\/a>, which would have required large companies to report a broad swath of data on how they treat their workers, did not pass out of the legislature.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re one of many Californians looking for a job, chances are you\u2019ve run into some familiar frustrations: unclear pay ranges and benefits. And how do you know if the company is a good employer? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If two Democratic state lawmakers have their way, employers might soon have to disclose a lot more information about pay and internal practices. Both bills, working their way through the California Legislature, face ardent opposition from powerful business groups, who fear the proposed laws could lead to unfair comparisons and expensive lawsuits.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bills are part of a larger push from states, the federal government and, in some cases, employers themselves to make companies more transparent. The California legislators have two goals: shrink gender- and race-based pay gaps, while also increasing the quality of jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies in several states<\/a> \u2014 including California \u2014 currently must tell workers about a job\u2019s pay ranges upon request, while Colorado, Washington<\/a> \uadf8\ub9ac\uace0 New York City<\/a> have passed measures in recent years requiring companies to put pay ranges in job postings. Intel has begun publishing data<\/a> on how it pays its workforce, and an increasing share<\/a> of the largest companies disclose some data on their racial and ethnic makeup. Meanwhile, the chair of the federal Securities and Exchange Commission is interested<\/a> in new rules that would make public companies disclose data about how they treat their employees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As California trudges out of the pandemic and companies try to hire or retain workers, the timing is right for legislation that zeroes in on \u201cwhat it really means to be a high quality employer,\u201d said Ash Kalra, chair of the Assembly\u2019s labor and employment committee and a Democrat from San Jose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pay gaps<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When Jessica Seifert applied to work at Riot Games, a video game company based in Los Angeles, pay range wasn\u2019t mentioned in the job description, she said. The company, known for its popular \u201cLeague of Legends\u201d game, first brought her on as a contractor in 2014 and then hired her full time to onboard new employees, she said. She found out a male peer was making $90,000 per year while she was making $70,000, and she began talking with co-workers about pay. The upshot: Women were often getting paid less for doing similar jobs, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From her vantage point inside Riot, Seifert saw applicants negotiate pay without much information on what to expect. \u201cI think it was a lot of anxiety; I think it was a lot of shooting in the dark,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gender- and race-based pay gaps persist across the U.S. In California, the average annual pay for women is $50,313 while men earn $57,457, according to Census Bureau data<\/a>. Meanwhile, more than a third of Californians were in poverty \u2014 with less than $35,600 for a family of four on average \u2014 or near it in 2019<\/a> according to the Public Policy Institute of California.  That year, 80% of poor Californians lived in a family with at least one working adult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n