California's race-based wage discrimination will finally come to an end with a new bill. Sen. Isadore Hall III pushed the new wage equality bill that is aimed to enhance the 65-yar-old California Equal Pay Act.
SB 1063 is the new wage equality bill that would protect genders for equal pay in the state. It is the first of its kind which would ban employers from paying lower salaries to employees of different race or ethnicity, The Guardian says. With the new bill, minority employees would be protected from receiving lower wages compared to white employees. The new bill is also designed to provide protections to workers demanding for wage information. The Chairman of the California Legislative Black Caucus, and State Senator Hall III introduced the bill on Wednesday.
"It's a crime to think that anyone could work on a job and be paid less just because of your race and/or your gender," said State Senator Isadore Hall III, author of the measure, at a press conference. "It's an economic injustice, it's discriminatory and it's just outright wrong."
The new wage equality bill has some similarities with the Fair Pay Act that focuses on gender wage gap. Hall's new bill is centered on race-based pay inequities, according to Compton Herald. Hall claimed that despite California's economic stability, the state continually faces racial wage gap. A research in 2013 by the American Association of University Women revealed that Asian-American women make 90 cents while Latina women receive the lowest rate of 54 cents for every dollar a white worker earns. African-American men also receive 75% less than the average rate of a white male worker.
"SB 1063 builds upon the important steps California has taken to address wage inequality and will set a new national standard to ensure that every worker is paid a fair and equitable wage," Hall said.
As Employment Attorney LA reported, discrimination in the workplace is very alarming. Every year, there are about 100,000 private sector workplace discrimination charges reported in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The site claims that ethnic discrimination could come in various forms from unfair write-up, refusal to hire, demotions, denial of overtime to wrongful termination.
The new wage equality bill is an important reminder for companies in California to reassess whether they are intentionally discriminating or not. It is high time for the companies to evaluate if they are paying men and women equally, and not based on race or ethnicity.
