BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1063
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Date of Hearing: June 29, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
SB 1063
(Hall) - As Amended April 20, 2016
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|Policy | Labor |Vote:| 5-1 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill amends the Equal Pay Act to prohibit employers from
paying employees a wage rate less than the rate paid to
employees of a different race or ethnicity for substantially
similar work.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Unknown, likely significant costs to the Department of
Industrial Relations (DIR) to process claims associated with
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wage discrimination based on race or ethnicity.
The Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement (DLSE) does not
currently receive any pay discrimination claims on the basis of
race or ethnicity, making it difficult to predict costs
associated with this bill. DIR notes, however, that the
Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) received
roughly 6,500 claims in 2014 alleging employment discrimination
based on race. As a point of comparison, if DLSE received 1% of
the claims DFEH received, this would generate workload for DLSE
of approximately $600,000 (special fund) in the first year and
$570,000 (special fund) in subsequent years.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. SB 358 (Jackson) Chapter 546, Statutes of 2015 made
various changes to the California Equal Pay Act related to
gender wage inequality. This bill adopts the same approach for
addressing wage discrimination based on race or ethnicity.
The California National Organization for Women (CA NOW) is
sponsoring this bill. Last year, CA NOW opposed SB 358 unless
it was amended to include protections for wage discrimination
for categories such as race, ethnicity, LGBTQ and disability
status. According to the author, ideally, other protected
classes, such as members of the LGBTQ or disabled community
should be included in this bill, but the addition of race and
ethnicity begins the process of making pay equity in
California more inclusive.
2)Opposition. A coalition of employers, including the California
Chamber of Commerce, opposes this measure. They state that SB
358 just went into effect at the beginning of this year. The
opposition believes that the Legislature should allow time for
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employees, employers, and the courts to interpret and
implement the new boundaries of the equal pay law before
seeking to amend and expand it even further.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081