New Law Proposed to Require Disclosure of Salary Range for Vacant Positions

A proposal being considered this week by the state legislature is described by advocates as “an important step to close the gender wage gap in Connecticut.”  If approved, the bill would “require employers to disclose salary ranges for vacant positions and provide comparable pay for comparable work,” updating Connecticut’s pay equity law.

HB 6380, An Act Concerning the Disclosure of Salary Range For A Vacant Position, will be the subject of an on-line public hearing by the Labor Committee on Tuesday.  Women in Connecticut earn, on average, 84 cents for every dollar paid to men, according to data provided by the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF).  The gap is wider for women of color, and persists across nearly all occupations and industries.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the gender wage gap due to the overrepresentation of women, especially women of color, in jobs on the frontlines of the crisis.  A report released this month by the Connecticut Collective for Women and Girls, the Connecticut Data Collaborative and the Aurora Foundation found that females surpassed males in unemployment claims for the first time in Connecticut’s history last year, and throughout the pandemic.  Females of color account for over 1 in 3 initial (36%) and continued (43%) unemployment claims filed by females.

Studies have also shown that when job applicants are clearly informed about the context for negotiations - including the range and types of compensation and benefits available - women are more successful at salary negotiation, which increases women’s earnings and closes the gender and racial wage gap.

Other studies show that women often ask for less when they negotiate than men even when they are otherwise equally qualified, CWEALF points out. Research also indicates that women who negotiate their salaries are already at a disadvantage “because they are perceived as greedy, demanding and less desirable candidates, which leads to lower starting pay.”

Since women and people of color already earn significantly less than white, non-Hispanic men, they would need to request a salary that is a particularly large percentage increase over their current pay for their request to be on-par with their white, non-Hispanic, male colleagues.

 “When employers hold all of the salary information, they are at a significant advantage in negotiating the lowest possible salary. This causes women and people of color to lose out most,” officials at CWEALF emphasize. They add that “The wage gap is much narrower in the public sector, where agencies typically operate within transparent and public pay structures. This is further evidence that greater pay transparency will reduce wage disparities.”

The proposed legislation would prevent an employer from prohibiting an employee “from inquiring about the wages of another employee” of their employer.  An employer would not be required to “disclose the amount of wages paid to any employee.”

This language included in the proposed bill mirrors legislation passed in 10 states, most recently in Massachusetts, the advocates note.  It was introduced in the current General Assembly session by Rep. Anne Hughes, whose legislative district includes Easton, Redding and Weston in Fairfield County.  Re-elected to a second term in November 2020, she unseated a Republican incumbent in 2018 to become the first Democrat to represent the district in over 30 years.

Connecticut has already taken strides to increase pay transparency, with Public Act 15-196, which prohibits pay secrecy and Public Act 18-8, which prohibits the use of salary history in the application process. If approved by the committee, and ultimately by the House and Senate and signed by the Governor, the revisions to existing law would take effect in October, according to the proposal.