Existing law requires an employer, upon reasonable request, to provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant applying for the position. Existing law requires an employer with 15 or more employees to include the pay scale for a position in any job posting. Existing law also requires an employer with 15 or more employees that engages a third party to announce, post, publish, or otherwise make known a job posting to provide the pay scale to the third party and requires the third party to include the pay scale in the job posting. Existing law establishes certain civil penalties for a violation of those provisions, provides for enforcement by the Labor Commissioner of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, and makes violation of certain provisions a crime.
This bill would require the pay scale provided for purposes of those provisions to be no more than 10% above or below the mean pay rate within the salary or hourly wage range. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law prohibits an employer from paying its employees at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex or another race or ethnicity for substantially similar work, except under specified circumstances. Existing law requires a civil action to recover wages for a violation of those provisions to be commenced no later than 2 years after the cause of action occurs or, if the cause of action arises out of a willful violation, no later than 3 years after the cause of action occurs.
This bill would prohibit an employer from paying employees at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of another sex instead of the opposite sex, and would require a civil action to recover wages to be commenced no later than 3 years after the cause of action occurs or 4 years if the cause of action arises out of a willful violation.
This bill would specify that a cause of action occurs when a discriminatory compensation decision or practice is adopted, when an individual becomes subject to the decision or practice, or when an individual is affected by the application of the decision or practice. The bill would make a series of discriminatory wage payments actionable as a continuing violation if the discriminatory wage payments arise from an ongoing discriminatory compensation decision or practice. The bill would define "wages," "wage rates," and "sex" for purposes of those provisions.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Statutes affected:
SB 642: 432.3 LAB, 1197.5 LAB
02/20/25 - Introduced: 432.3 LAB, 1197.5 LAB