BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1676|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1676
Author: Campos (D) and Gonzalez (D), et al.
Amended: 8/19/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & IND. REL. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/22/16
AYES: Mendoza, Stone, Jackson, Leno, Mitchell
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/28/16
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 47-29, 6/2/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Employers: wage discrimination
SOURCE: American Association of University Women
California Employment Lawyers Association
California NOW
Equal Rights Advocates
DIGEST: This bill clarifies that prior salary, by itself,
cannot be used to justify any disparity in compensation between
men and women.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/19/16 double joint the provisions
of AB 1676 to
SB 1063 (Hall).
ANALYSIS:
AB 1676
Page 2
Existing law:
1)Bars an employer from requiring an employee to refrain from
disclosing the amount of his or her wages, requiring an
employee to sign a waiver or other document that denies the
employee the right to disclose the amount of his or her wages
or discharge, or formally disciplining, or otherwise
discriminating against an employee who discloses the amount of
his or her wages. (Labor Code §232)
2)Prohibits an employer from paying an employee at wage rates
less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex in
the same establishment for equal work on jobs the performance
of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and
which are performed under similar working conditions. (Labor
Code §1197.5)
3)Establishes exceptions to this prohibition where the payment
is made pursuant to a seniority system, a merit system, a
system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of
production, or a differential based on any bona fide factor
other than sex. (Labor Code §1197.5)
4)Makes it a misdemeanor for an employer or other person acting
either individually or as an officer, agent, or employee of
another person to pay or cause to be paid to any employee a
wage less than the rate paid to an employee of the opposite
sex, or who reduces the wages of any employee in order to
comply with wage protections for an employee of the opposite
sex. (Labor Code §1199.5)
This bill:
1)Clarifies that prior salary, by itself, must not justify any
disparity in compensation between workers of the opposite sex.
2)Makes findings and declarations on the wage differential
between men and women, recent case law, and that this bill is
a codification of existing law.
3)Contains double-jointing language with SB 1063 (Hall).
Comments
AB 1676
Page 3
Need for this bill? The author states the following:
On average, California women who are employed full time lose a
total of approximately $37.7 billion every year due to the
wage gap. These lost wages mean families have less money to
spend on goods and services that help drive economic growth?
[M]others are the primary or sole breadwinners in nearly 40
percent of families, and married mothers are the primary or
co-breadwinners in nearly two-thirds of families. That means
women's wages are key to their families' ability to make ends
meet and get ahead.
The pay gap begins early in women's careers. According to a
study by the American Association of University Women, women
one year out of college, working full time, were paid on
average just 82 percent of what their male counterparts make.
This number shows that there is still a significant wage gap
when accounting for age, education and family
responsibilities.
According to a recent report from the Institute for Women's
Policy Research, the gender wage gap in the United States will
not close until 2058 if progress continues at its current
rate. But perhaps our slow rate of progress is due at least in
part because we have allowed employers to preserve historical
inequities.
Because changing jobs is often the best opportunity women have
to increase their pay, we need to make sure they are not
penalized by prior salaries that may well have been
discriminatory. The impact of prior salaries is particularly
concerning in certain industries and across racial lines. For
example, women in Silicon Valley with advanced degrees are
making more than 70 percent less than men with the same
degrees. And California has one of the largest wage gaps for
African American and Hispanic women, who make just 64 and 44
cents, respectively, for every $1 a white man makes. These
depressed salaries only serve to devalue a woman's worth and
make it harder for her to negotiate better pay.
AB 1676 addresses the pay gap by making findings and
declarations and clearly stating that prior compensation cannot
be used to justify any disparity in compensation.
AB 1676
Page 4
Prior Legislation
SB 358 (Jackson, Chapter 546, Statutes of 2015) requires that
men and women doing substantially similar work under similar
working conditions be paid equally, unless the employer can
demonstrate that the pay differential is based on certain
enumerated factors.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified8/22/16)
American Association of University Women (co-source)
California Employment Lawyers Association (co-source)
California NOW (co-source)
Equal Rights Advocates (co-source)
9 to 5 California
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
Anti-Defamation League
California Asset Building Coalition
California Child Care Resource and Referral Network
California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls
California Domestic Workers Coalition
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice
California Partnership
California Teachers Association
California Women's Law Center
California Work and Family Coalition
Child Care Law Center
City of Los Angeles
Courage Campaign
League of California Cities Latino Caucus
Legal Aid Society Employment Law Center
Legislative Women's Caucus
Mujeres Unidas y Activas
National Association of Social Workers-California Chapter
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Jewish Women California
Parent Voices
AB 1676
Page 5
Raising California Together
Santa Barbara Women's Political Committee
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
The Center for Popular Democracy
The Opportunity Institute
The Women's Foundation of California
Tradeswomen, Inc.
Voices for Progress
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Women's Foundation of California
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/22/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Proponents argue AB 1676 is an
important measure to continue previous legislative efforts to
bridge the wage gap between male and female workers.
Specifically, proponents note that, last year, the Legislature
passed SB 358, which requires that men and women doing
substantially similar work under similar working conditions be
paid equally, barring certain factors. The practice of paying
someone solely based on their prior salary was not specifically
addressed, recent administrative court decisions have made clear
this is discriminatory and locks in a low level of pay for many
women. AB 1676 addresses this by making explicit and clear that
paying someone less on the basis of a prior salary is
discriminatory.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 47-29, 6/2/16
AYES: Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown,
Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dodd, Eggman, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia,
Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lopez, Low, McCarty, Medina,
Mullin, Nazarian, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, Wood,
Rendon
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Brough, Chang, Chávez,
Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper,
AB 1676
Page 6
Irwin, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Linder, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,
Melendez, Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson, Steinorth, Wagner,
Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Daly, Frazier, O'Donnell
Prepared by:Gideon L. Baum / L. & I.R. / (916) 651-1556
8/22/16 22:58:09
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