Pay-Transparency Bill in California Could Impact Workers Nationwide
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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What is the new California pay-transparency bill being discussed?
Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, August 31st. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. Some of the country's biggest companies may soon be required to include salary ranges on job listings if a bill in California becomes law.
It can be extremely helpful for workers. It makes a job search more efficient. You can just open a posting and know if a range might be interesting to you.
Coming up, we'll talk with our workplace and management reporter Chip Cutter about the paid transparency bill and how it could ultimately affect workers nationwide.
Which employers would be required to include salary ranges under the bill?
That's after the break.
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What additional pay data and reporting would companies need to provide to the state?
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California may soon require nearly all employers in the state to list pay information on job postings. And if the measure is approved, it could affect many of America's biggest companies and not just those in California. Chip Cutter covers workplace and management issues for The Wall Street Journal, and he joins us with more. Hey, Chip, thank you very much for being with us.
Thanks, JR.
Would the California law apply to companies headquartered outside the state?
So, Chip, this bill was introduced earlier this year. It's gotten strong support from both houses of California's legislature. What exactly would it call for?
Well, it's significant in that it calls for nearly all employers in California who are hiring for jobs there to list pay on job postings. So any organization with more than 15 employees will need to include the hourly pay or a salary range on job postings. It would also call for companies to disclose more information to the state on the wages of existing employees.
Okay. Any other parts of the bill worth noting?
Yeah, so companies would have to provide the median and hourly pay rate by race, ethnicity, and other factors within a number of job categories. But they'd also have to do this for their labor contractors.
How could a California requirement push companies to list pay nationwide?
And that's something that's different here. Those companies that hire 100 or more employees through labor contractors would have to submit a separate pay data report to the state.
Now, California is home to many of the country's biggest companies and has more than 19 million workers. But would this bill only apply to companies in California?
No, it wouldn't. It would apply to any company that's based elsewhere but still looking to fill roles in California. So even if it's a company based in New York that wants to hire someone in San Francisco, they would need to abide by the rules here that would require someone to put a salary range on a job posting.
So then how could this law change job postings outside of California?
Well, this might actually push companies to start listing pay on job posts nationwide. There's a number of these laws on the books already in different states. And so as more of this legislation comes to pass, many companies are realizing a patchwork approach might not make sense. They might just start listing pay everywhere to make things easier. And JR, this can be a pretty cumbersome process for companies. HR executives have to watch all these different laws and make sure they're complying with them.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:30
2
What is the new California pay-transparency bill being discussed?
0:30–1:05
3
Which employers would be required to include salary ranges under the bill?
1:05–1:14
4
What additional pay data and reporting would companies need to provide to the state?
1:14–2:03
5
Would the California law apply to companies headquartered outside the state?
2:03–2:47
6
How could a California requirement push companies to list pay nationwide?
2:47–3:50
7
Why are some employers opposed to listing salary ranges on job postings?
3:50–4:46
8
How would salary transparency laws change leverage and job-search efficiency for workers?
4:46–6:29
Speakers
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