Salary Disclosure Law Takes Effect Oct. 1
A new Connecticut law requiring employers to disclose salary ranges takes effect Oct 1., 2021.
The statute, which also extends the prohibition on gender-based wage discrimination, imposes new disclosure requirements for both job applicants and existing employees.
Public Act 21-30 mandates that an employer disclose the salary range for an open position to a job applicant either at the applicant’s request or before or at the time they are offered the position.
In addition, an employer must disclose an existing employee’s salary range at the hiring of the employee, a change in the employee’s position with the employer, or in response to the employee’s first request for a wage range.
The law defines “wage range” as “the range of wages an employer anticipates relying on when setting wages for a position,” including any applicable pay scale, previously determined range of wages for the position, actual range of wages for employees in comparable positions, or the employer’s budgeted amount for the position.
The disclosure mandate is among a series of new Connecticut workplace laws that take effect Oct. 1, 2021.
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination
Connecticut employers were previously prohibited from paying employees less than what they pay employees of the opposite sex for equal work on a job, the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility.
The new law replaces the equal work standard with a “comparable” work standard, lowering the threshold for determining gender-based wage discrimination.
Employers cannot discriminate on wage rates paid to employees of opposite sex for “comparable work on a job, when viewed as composite of skill, effort, and responsibility and performed under similar working conditions.”
Differences in pay can only be justified if based on a seniority system, a merit system, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or a differential system based upon a factor other than gender, “including, but not limited to, education, training, credential, skill, geographic location, or experience.”
An employer must prove the differential factor is job-related and consistent with business needs. If an employee demonstrates an existing alternative practice that serves the same business purpose without the wage difference, the employer’s defense is lost.
Employers also are prohibited from discharging, expelling, or discriminating against an employee who opposed any discriminatory compensation practice or because such person filed a complaint, or testified or helped with filing a complaint or lawsuit.
CBIA provides the compensation and benefits-related support and insights companies need to stay competitive, including customized pay data, competitive salary range information, and wage and hour guidance. For more information, contact CBIA’s Phillip Montgomery (860.244.1982).
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