Confronting Systemic Pay Bias

Continued from page 13 well as the “motherhood penalty”impacts salary, bonus, other benefits of employment, potential promotions, and much more, thus highlighting the need for the present pay data legislation.

Even before SB 1162 became effective, a number of private employers including California-based giants Airbnb, Apple, Cisco, Door Dash, Dropbox, Google, Headspace Health, LinkedIn, Netflix, Nextdoor, Salesforce, Snap Inc., Twitter, and Uber, pledged to publish aspects of their workplace demographic data publicly in order to demonstrate commitment to eliminating disparities.14 In supporting these new transparencies, California Labor Federa tion explained, “…good employers are already doing it. SB 1162 simply codifies existing best practices to ensure a fair and equal playing field for all workers.”15

When looking at the pay gap statistics for female attorneys as fractions of a dollar, it can be difficult to understand the impact on earnings over a lifetime, thus difficult to understand the importance of the present new legislation and the importance of implementation. However, these long-term significant pay gaps are not only detrimental to women and workers of color, but also harm the families they support and the state’s overall economy, resulting in a harmful “wealth gap.”16

There is a good deal of available data to guide employers, small and large, as well as law firms, to ensure compliance with the new disclosures, including:

• California Department of Industrial Relations, California Equal Pay Act, Frequently Asked Questions. https://www.dir.ca.gov/ dlse/california_equal_pay_act. htm

• California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, Equal Pay https://women.ca.gov/equalpayca/

• California Civil Rights Department, Pay Data Reporting https:// calcivilrights.ca.gov/paydatareporting/

The legal community can be a positive role model for implementation of the new pay reporting requirements within our communities as we work together to break the cyclical wage and wealth disparities have held on women and people of color.

Attorney Beth W. Mora at MORA EMPLOYMENT LAW has successfully represented employees for over 20 years throughout the state in a wide range of employment matters. Beth’s current volunteer activities include Executive Committee of the California Lawyers Association Labor & Employment Law Section; California Employment Lawyers Association’s Legislative Committee; Co-Lead for Legal Aid at Work’s (LAAW) Workers’ Rights Clinic in Antioch; and, Beth regularly volunteers with the Berkeley Law, Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law, Gender-based Harassment law work group.

1 SB 973, Jackson, Chapter 363, Statutes of 2020 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB973

2 California Pay Data Reports Show Women, Latinos, and Other Groups Overrepresented Among Low-Wage Workers Department of Fair

Employment and Housing, March 15, 2022 https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/ sites/32/2022/03/DFEH-Pay-Data-ResultsPress-Release-2022-03-15-1.pdf

3 Trussaic, October 13, 2021 https://trusaic.com/ press-center/statewide-gender-and-race-ethnicity-pay-gaps-in-california-exceed-46-billion-2/

4 See Diversity 2022 California Licensed Attorneys, The State Bar of California (“State Bar”.) https://publications.calbar.ca.gov/2022diversity-report-card/diversity-2022-californialicensed-attorneys

5 Gender Pay Gap Report, PayScale, March 2022 https://www.payscale.com/compensation-trends/ the-gender-pay-gap-is-real-and-employers-havethe-power-to-do-something-about-it/

6 U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2022 Annual Social and Economic Supplement, Table PINC-05, CPS, 2022 ASEC https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/ time-series/demo/cps/cps-asec.html

7 The “uncontrolled” pay gap compares the average pay of all women and all men in the workforce. This gap is called the “uncontrolled” gap because it doesn’t control for any factors that might affect pay except sex. The “controlled” pay gap accounts for variations including occupations, education, race, etc.

8 Gender Pay Gap Report, PayScale, March 2022 https://www.payscale.com/compensation-trends/ the-gender-pay-gap-is-real-and-employers-havethe-power-to-do-something-about-it/

9 The Gender Wage Gap Could Cost Women Millions When They Retire, CNBC, March 30, 2022 Gender wage gap could cost women millions in retirement savings (cnbc.com)

10 ibid

11 ibid

12 Major, Lindsey & Africa’s Partner Compensation Surveys: A Decade of Perspective, Partners, Major, Lindsey & Africa, September 2020 https:// www.mlaglobal.com/en/insights/research/2020partner-compensation-report

13 Gender Pay Gap Wide Atop In-House Counsel Ladder, May Be Closing, Bloomberg Law, June 29, 2020 https://news.bloomberglaw.com/esg/ gender-pay-gap-wide-atop-in-house-counselladder-may-be-closing

14 ‘Collecting Salary From the Firm While Siting On Your Ass’ Is Certainly ONE Way For A Senior Lawyer To Describe Maternity Leave, Above the Law, January 9, 2023. https:// abovethelaw.com/2023/01/collecting-salary-fromthe-firm-while-sitting-on-your-ass-is-certainlyone-way-for-a-partner-to-describe-maternityleave/

15 The Motherhood Penalty - Alive and “Well” or on Its Way Out? American Bar Association, by Alise Henry, Esq., June 29, 2018 https://www. americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/ woman-advocate/practice/2018/motherhoodpenalty/

17 Senate Judiciary Committee, 2021-2022, SB 1162, (Limón) at page 16, April 25, 2022 Bill Analysis - SB-1162 Employment: Salaries and Wages. (ca.gov)

18 “The pay gap also contributes to the wealth gap. It makes it difficult for women to amass savings, build wealth and achieve economic security. Overall, the average American woman has a net worth of $5,541, less than half of the $12,188 average net worth of a man. In terms of overall wealth, a single woman has only 32 cents for each dollar a single man has. And the wealth gap is even wider for women of color, who have just pennies for every dollar a white male has. The Gender Pay Gap, AAUW, https://www.aauw.org/ issues/equity/pay-gap/

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