Proposal would stop Pennsylvania employers from requiring applicants' salary history
HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA) — It's a long way from becoming law, but a bill introduced this month would prohibit Pennsylvania employers from requiring job applicants to disclose their salary histories.
Salary history requirements are legal in America and were standard fare on job applications until about a half-decade ago, when some states and cities began restricting them.
The rationale for the changes: Salary history requirements perpetuate the pay gap between men and women.
"An employer may think, 'I can hire her at a lower salary. I can get the same amount of work, maybe even better, at a lower pay rate,'" said state Senator Judy Schwank (D-Reading), who sponsored the new legislation. "And that's wrong. Women and men do the job equally. They should be paid equally as well."
Schwank said her interest in gender pay disparity dates to a personal experience early in her career, working at a university, when she and other female colleagues identified and successfully fought to close a pay gap between themselves and their male colleagues.
Asked about the proposal, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis (D) cited an even bigger reported pay deficit for African-American women than the one for women in general.
"I think Senator Schwank's legislation will go a long way toward making sure that disparity doesn't exist," Davis said.
But the bill has no Republican co-sponsors in the GOP-controlled Senate, indicating an uphill battle, and the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is firmly opposed to it.
"Employers in Pennsylvania rely on market data, input from job applicants, industry trends and other economic information to stay competitive and make decisions related to employment and employee wages," Alex Halper, the chambers vice-president of government affairs, told CBS News in a statement. "Current law already prohibits employers from paying individuals differently based upon many factors, including gender. We would urge policymakers to focus on enforcing existing, current law."
Schwank's bill wouldn't prevent applicants from voluntarily disclosing salary history data in order to make a case for a higher salary. It would, however, also stop employers from prohibiting employees from discussing their respective salaries.
According to HR Dive, nearly half of U.S. states have some kind of restriction on employers requiring job applicants to provide salary histories, although some only restrict government agencies or companies of a certain size. On the other hand, two other states – Michigan and Wisconsin – prohibit even municipalities within their states from imposing restrictions.
Everywhere else, it's up to localities. Pennsylvania's two biggest cities, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, already have their own restrictions.
