Women earn about 80% of men— holding constant for
education, experience, job requirements, and so on. No single factor explains
the difference. This week, Massachusetts enacted a law (effective in 2018) that
aims at one element of pay discrimination: asking employees for salary history
during a job interview.
Drafters of the law believe that employers often lower
salaries for women because women who apply for better-paying jobs are coming
from jobs that pay them less than their male counterparts for the same work.
As reported by U.S. News & World Report, Amanda Marie
Baer, an employment lawyer at Mirick, O'Connell, DeMallie & Lougee, LLP in
Massachusetts explains: “The prohibition is designed to stop perpetuating pay
inequality from employer to employer when employers offer to pay women
applicants less than their male counterparts because the men were paid more at
the last employer… For example, if a company is hiring two accountants, Pam and
Paul, and knows their respective salary histories, it may be inclined to offer
Pam $80,000 because she was paid $60,000 by her last employer, while offering
Paul $90,000 because he was paid $70,000 by his last employer – resulting in a
$10,000 pay gap. If the company does not know Pam and Paul’s salary histories,
it may offer an equal salary of $85,000 to both.” (photo credit: kata-illustration.com)
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