Explanation
This ordinance enacts a new chapter of city code to promote pay equity by prohibiting the inquiry into and use of salary history information in the hiring process for job applicants. This ordinance also amends sections of City Code related to the enforcement of these provisions by the Community Relations Commission.
Requesting a job applicant’s previous salary or earnings is a historically common practice that employers have used in the hiring practice to make determinations about hire and job offers. This practice has the unfortunate propensity to perpetuate historical inequities that women, especially women of color, face in the job market. Asking a worker about their salary history and relying upon that information when making a job offer can perpetuate any previous disadvantages that worker experienced in the market.
As of 2022, women who work full-time and year-round make $0.84 for every dollar that men make. For Black women, that number is $0.64. For Latina women, it is a staggering $0.46. On average, women lose out on over $400,000 over the course of a 40-year career due to the pay gap. For Black and Latina women, that number is closer to $1,000,000. This means that the lack of pay equity contributes to both the wage gap and the wealth gap. Issues of pay equity are the result of both personal discrimination and systemic discrimination. Eliminating questions about salary history helps to address the systemic discrimination that women face.
The existing wage gap can be perpetuated when a historically underpaid worker is asked questions about her salary history and a subsequent job offer relies upon that information. A prohibition on salary history inquiries prevents employers from considering factors that unfairly contributed to a women’s inequitable pay, rather than a job applicant’s qualifications and capability for the role.
This ordinance establishes prohibitions on salary history inquiries for Columbus employers, placing enforcement of th...
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