California’s Fair Pay Law Is Now the Most Aggressive in the Country, Attorney Deborah Barron
Feb 9, 2016
Sacramento, CA (Law Firm Newswire) February 9, 2016 – Every new worker needs to understand California’s new equal pay law, SB 358. It significantly changes what a worker is required to prove in court in the case of unequal pay for equal work.
Without a shred of doubt, the new equal pay law recently introduced in California is considered to be one of the most aggressive laws of its kind in the nation. While some say it is a huge detriment to employers, others applaud the law as finally being based on common sense, equity and fairness.
The new law, in part, says employers can no longer ban workers from telling others what their wages are and they are no longer prohibited from asking how much other workers make. Should an incident like that arise in the workplace and the worker asking what others are paid is discriminated against or fired in retaliation, there are now very stiff penalties for such an infraction.
SB 358 mandates, in a legal dispute, that a worker show that a co-worker executed “substantially similar work.” Previously, an employee had to demonstrate that he or she was paid less than an opposite sex colleague doing “equal work.”
The biggest change that may impact workers not just in California, but nationwide, is employers now possibly being liable for pay incongruities for workers who do their jobs in similar working conditions, departments, units, divisions or even other states. “Previously, workers were only compared to others in the same location,” explained veteran employment attorney Deborah Barron. “Employers must now also keep wage and job classification records for all workers for three years.”
While the newest California labor law may improve the lives of workers, many employers are questioning whose side the government is really on and wondering what happened to free enterprise and the right to make an income. “The right of an employer to make an income is not in question here,” said Barron. “What is in question is the rights of the workers to make a decent income. This legislation strives to level the playing field. How the courts will choose to interpret it is another question.”
For workers that suspect they are not being paid according to the new law, reach out and discuss the case with a knowledgeable employment attorney. When a new law is first implemented, there are generally glitches to work out. “Know your rights,” said Barron. “Don’t just automatically assume your employer will pay you a fair and equitable wage. That is not always the case.”
Learn more at http://www.lawbarron.com/
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