Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., introduced legislation Tuesday that would require employers to disclose salary ranges in job advertisements, during interviews and to current employees.
The Salary Transparency Act aims to address gender and racial pay disparities by making compensation information more accessible to job seekers and workers.
“Salary transparency is an important tool to combat the gender and race pay gaps,” Norton said. “Salary secrecy facilitates both intentional and unintentional pay discrimination and perpetuates pay disparities.”
Norton, who was the first woman to chair the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, noted that several states have already enacted similar salary disclosure laws.
The bill responds to research showing that women and people of color often negotiate for lower salaries than their white male counterparts, partly because they base their requests on previously lower wages.
“Studies have consistently shown that when women negotiate for their salaries, they negotiate for less than similarly situated men,” Norton said. “Frequently, this is because the salary they request is a certain percentage higher than their current salary.”
According to Norton, requiring employers to disclose salary ranges would help level the playing field in negotiations and reduce longstanding wage inequities across gender and racial lines.
“This change is long overdue to help eliminate the entrenched wage disparities in the job market,” she said.