Pa. Democrat proposes salary transparency requirements

Wanting to increase workplace transparency by combating salary disparities, a Senate Democrat has proposed mandatory pay disclosure requirements for jobs in Pennsylvania.

Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, D-Delaware, on Tuesday — Equal Pay Day, which marks how far into the year women must work to catch up to what their white male colleagues earned the year before — announced plans to reintroduce legislation requiring salary transparency requirements across the commonwealth.

The bill, if passed by lawmakers and signed into law by the governor, would require that employers disclose the pay range on job postings or the minimum compensation if a range doesn’t exist.

The practice, Cappelletti wrote in a memo seeking support, “levels the playing field” in job negotiations and lets applicants and employees evaluate and remedy “unjustified pay disparities.” She added that increased transparency allows companies to review their pay practices, creating opportunities to address disparities between staff.

Cappelletti previously introduced the proposal during the last legislative session as a companion bill to a House bill authored by Rep. MaryLouise Isaacson, D-Philadelphia. Her legislation also required that employers provide employees with written documentation to include the pay range for their job title and jobs within the employer’s business that are “substantially similar with respect to the skill, effort, and responsibility” necessary to do the job each year.

“Requiring employers to disclose the pay range on job postings prevents employers from perpetuating pay inequities due to the legacy of paying women and people of color less for equal work and excluding women and people of color from certain jobs and industries entirely,” Cappelletti said.

Last year, New York adopted a similar mandate, requiring that employers include a “good faith” list of salary ranges for all advertised jobs. After its implementation, however, the policy faced backlash after employers posted broad ranges.