Equal Pay
WHAT IS THE GENDER PAY GAP?
The gender pay gap is the difference between the earnings of men and women, expressed as a ratio or a gap. The pay gap is calculated by dividing the median earnings of women by the median earnings of men. The gender pay gap varies across race/ethnicity, age, education, occupation, industry, and geographical location. However in every state and within nearly every occupation, the pay gap persists. The pay gap is worse for women of color and increases with greater educational attainment.
WHAT CONTRIBUTES TO THE GENDER PAY GAP?
There are a number of complex and often interrelated reasons that explain the existence of the gender pay gap. However, studies find that when factors which may explain pay differences are considered, such as education, experience, and occupation, some portion of the gender pay gap remains unexplained. In fact, one year after college, women were paid just 82% of what men with similar education and experience earned. [1]
HOW CAN WE CLOSE THE GENDER PAY GAP?
Everyone from CEOs to managers to students can help close the gender pay gap. The information below highlights some ways to help close the gender pay gap. Find out about San Francisco Equal Pay Laws here.
RESOURCES FOR EMPLOYERS
- Gender Equality Principles: Gender Equity Guide to Equal Pay- Five key strategies and a collection of resources and tools that employers can use to help close the pay gap.
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Center for Work-Life Law, Hastings College of Law – Educates the public on family responsibility discrimination and provides helpful tools and support systems for employers to incorporate work-life balance in the workplace.
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Tools for Organizations - Improving Performance Evaluation Forms & Processes_0.pdf
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Tools for Managers & HR - Interrupting Bias in Performance Evaluations_1.pdfTools for Managers & HR - Interrupting Bias in Performance Evaluations_1.pdfTools for Managers & HR - Interrupting Bias in Performance Evaluations_1.pdf
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City of Boston Women's Workforce Council – The Boston Women’s Compact is a voluntary pledge that over 50 companies in Boston have signed to indicate their commitment to closing the gender pay gap in the workplace.
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Edge Certified;Works with major global employers to evaluate their employee gender mix, pay gap, and employee perceptions of gender equality, and apply best practices to address inequalities.
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Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Responsible for enforcing federal employment laws and preventing discrimination before it occurs, the EEOC provides information on the laws and facts relating to compensation discrimination. EEOC has proposed changes to the Employer Information Report (EEO-1) to collect pay data to help identify pay disparities and promote equal pay.
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EqualPayMA – Shares resources about the reasons for the pay gap and solutions to address it, including an Employer Tool Kit to help employers identify, understand, and promote equal pay in the workplace.
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Harvard Implicit Bias Test – Free online tool enables individuals to test themselves for hidden racial, gender, and other biases.
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Harvard Kennedy School Women and Public Policy Program – Provides evidence-based insights on the role of gender in shaping economic, political, and social opportunities, identifies successful interventions, and measures their impact on women, men, and society.
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Missouri Women’s Foundation's Pay Equity Best Practices Guidelines – Report detailing the factors linked to pay inequity and equal pay best practices, including how employers can do a self-analysis.
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Orrick Blogs' Equal Pay Pulse – Orrick, a globally renowned law practice that represents employers on their most important and complex issues, shares the latest news and valuable insights on the issue of equal pay.
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PayScale – Links individuals and businesses to the largest salary profile database in the world. Find out how our cloud compensation software can help you to pay the right way.
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Stanford's Center for the Advancement of Women’s Leadership – Provides a series of toolkits to “see” and “block” bias in the employee lifecycle: sourcing, promotions, team dynamics, and assignments.
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U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau – Offers an Employer's Guide to Equal Pay to help employers understand the primary federal laws that govern compensation, tips to monitor pay practices, and resources to help ensure compliance with those laws.
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U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCCP) – Offers small businesses with federal contracts or subcontracts a step-by-step guideline on how to comply with equal pay laws.
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Women's Funding Alliance and Seattle Chamber of Commerce's 100% Talent – An employer-led initiative to address pay inequality and encourage employers to assess their compensation systems for bias, correct any inequities discovered, and share best practices to eliminate unequal pay.
RESOURCES FOR EMPLOYEES
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American Association of University Women (AAUW) – One of the foremost advocacy organizations on the issue of equal pay offering research, legal resources, salary negotiation, and toolkits, among other resources.
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Center for Work-Life Law - Hastings College of Law – Assists employees who may be experiencing pregnancy discrimination or caregiver discrimination at work.
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Tools for Individuals - Evaluating Others & Writing Self Evaluations.pdfTools for Individuals - Evaluating Others & Writing Self Evaluations.pdfTools for Individuals - Evaluating Others & Writing Self Evaluations.pdf
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Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) – Responsible for enforcing federal employment laws and preventing discrimination before it occurs, the EEOC provides information for employees and jobseekers on the laws and facts relating to compensation discrimination.
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Glassdoor – A jobs and recruiting site that shares interview questions, benefits reviews, CEO ratings, and salary reports.
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Hired – Helps eliminate bias in hiring by having companies apply to job seekers, not the other way around. Hired has unprecedented visibility into the salaries that men and women ask for and what companies, in turn, offer them.
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Lean In; Offers negotiation skills to learn a simple framework for approaching negotiation.
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PayScale – Links individuals and businesses to the largest salary profile database in the world. Use PayScale to discover what you are worth. Real-time salary data, comparing job profiles to the salaries of people with comparable skills and experience.
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The Wage Project – A nonprofit to help close the gender pay gap by calculating salary ranges for various professions based on geographic location in the United States.
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U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau – Conducts research, programs, and outreach to advance issues important to working women, including A Guide to Women's Equal Pay Rights designed to help working women understand their rights under certain laws and an Equal Pay and Pay Transparency Map with information on federal and state-level protections for workers. A table of state equal pay protections, coverage, and remedies is also available.
LAWS, REGULATIONS, AND POLICIES
The chart below summarizes compensation legislation and policies at the federal, state, and local level:
POLICY |
APPLIES TO |
EFFECTIVE DATE |
REQUIREMENTS |
EFFECT |
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FEDERAL |
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Employer Information Report (EEO-1) |
Private employers with 100+ employees, including federal contractors |
Data collection proposed February 2016, rescinded indefinitely by the Trump Administration in 2017 |
Employers would be required to collect and report data to provide the federal government with workforce profiles by race, ethnicity, sex, and job category, as well as aggregate data on pay ranges and hours worked. |
Assists EEOC in identifying pay disparities that warrant further investigation and helps employers to prevent pay discrimination. |
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) |
Federal government contractors and subcontractors |
Submitted: 11/6/2014 |
Covered federal contractors and subcontractors must annually provide Summary Data on Employee Compensation, including W-2 earnings, number of employees, and hours worked by sex and race/ethnicity. Executive Orders in 2017 and 2018 incited an interal OFCCP directive issued in 2017 that lessens requirements for contractors and subcontractors that are religious entities. |
Protects workers and strengthens OFCCP’s ability to identify and remedy different forms of pay discrimination. |
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act – Obama Executive Order |
All workers in US |
1/29/2009 Retroactive on 5/28/2007 |
Allows employees to sue for pay discrimination regardless of when the discrimination began. |
Victims of unlawful pay discrimination are able to assert their rights under the federal anti-discrimination laws. |
Equal Pay Act of 1963 |
All workers in US |
6/10/1963 |
Prohibits sex discrimination in pay for jobs that require substantially equal skill, effort, and responsibility. |
Makes it illegal to pay different salaries to employees doing equal work because of sex or gender.
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STATE |
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CA Fair Pay Act (SB 358) |
All workers in CA |
1/1/2016 |
Prohibits paying an employee less than employees of the opposite sex for substantially similar work “when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions.” Employers must prove pay differential is due to a “bona fide factor.” Prohibits retaliation against employees who inquire about or speak out against wage differences. |
Protects employees who discuss pay. Strengthens the pay equity law to put burden of justifying pay differential on employer. Requires employers to maintain accurate records on pay scales, wage rates, and personnel data. |
CA Equal Pay Act |
All workers in CA |
Enacted in 1949 Amended in 1985 |
Prohibits sex based wage discrimination for considerably equal work. |
Requires equal pay for equal work unless pay differential is due to “any bona fide factor other than sex.” |
Corporations: Board of Directors |
Publicly traded companies whose principle headquarters are in CA | Enacted in 2018 | Requires boards to have at least one woman by the end of 2019 and two to three women by the end of 2021 depending on the size of the board. | Addresses the leadership gender gap, brings more female diversity to corporate decision-making. |
LOCAL |
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San Francisco Equal Pay Ordinance |
Contractors or subcontractors on large contracts for the City of San Francisco with at least 20 employees globally |
Equal Pay Report annual submission begins: 7/3/2017 |
Requires a complete and accurate report to the Human Rights Commission annually that provides a summary of information on compensation paid to employees identified by sex, race, and data points. Human Rights Commission can investigate and recommend action if discrimination is found. |
Encourages employers to identify pay discrimination by reviewing compensation by sex and race/ethnicity. Permits City to investigate suspected gender or racial wage discrimination. |
San Francisco Parity in Pay Ordinance | Applicants for employment with non-governmental employers when the applicants' work would be performed in whole or in part in San Francisco | July 1, 2018 | Prohibits employers, including City contractors and subcontractors, from asking applicants about their current or past salary; bans employers from considering an applicant’s current or past salary in determining whether to hire an applicant or what salary to offer (unless the applicant voluntarily discloses his or her current or past salary); and prohibits employers from disclosing a current or former employee’s salary without that employee’s authorization. | Prevents employers from basing an employee's pay on their previous salary, which perpetuates prior pay inequities or gender wage discrimination. |
[1] Graduating to a Pay Gap: The Earnings of Women and Men One Year after College Graduation. AAUW. 2012