Pay Transparency Webinar: Developing Your Multi-State Strategy

“State pay transparency laws are on fire,” said HR Policy Assistant General Counsel Greg Hoff in a recent Association webinar. The first in a series focused on critical state laws, the webinar featured a panel of experts and practitioners on challenges posed by the increasing patchwork of state laws – and how to rise above compliance and focus on strategy. 

State law approaches: “Nearly half of current state pay transparency laws only came about in the past 18 months,” explained Hoff (see a state-by-state chart here). There are three main types of laws: 

• requiring companies to include specific pay ranges in job postings; 

• prohibiting employers from asking about or considering a prospective employee’s salary history; and  

• requiring companies to disclose pay data to regulators.  

So far, 14 states have laws requiring pay ranges and bans on salary history. Twenty-two states have salary history bans alone, but more laws are coming, said Todd Gershkowitz, co-CEO and founder of pay equity firm PayStandards, which developed a non-traditional approach to pay equity and remediation. 

Company Strategies: Kate Tekker, Head of Global Total Rewards & HR Operations for Prudential, and John Weinrich, Director of Compensation at H&R Block, shared their thinking on a nationwide vs. local pay transparency approach. 

• Prudential takes a broad, nationwide approach to pay transparency. The company’s proxy filing includes a “Pay Equity Statement” with details on how polices and practices address pay equity throughout an employee’s career. Prudential also discloses the implementation of a pay equity analysis as well as overall results in some detail. 

• H&R Block currently takes a state-by-state approach, prioritizing significant internal communications to associates along with manager training regarding how to have pay conversations with employees. 

The incoming Trump administration and GOP-led Congress are likely to undo the existing federal contractor transparency rule and refrain from new requirements. To fill the void, many states are likely to continue legislating in this area and may tip the balance for many companies from a local to a nationwide pay transparency approach.