Many states have enacted state laws prohibiting employers from discriminating against employees based on their sex. Most states have equal pay laws. Many explicitly prohibit gender-based compensation discrimination, and some are more expansive than the federal laws.
Some state discrimination laws also cover employers with fewer than 15 employees or provide additional protections beyond those provided by Title VII or the EPA. Further, several states have laws that prohibit company pay secrecy policies, including California, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and West Virginia. For example, the California Labor Code states that no employer may require, as a condition of employment, that an employee refrain from disclosing the amount of his or her wages or discipline, discharge, or otherwise discriminate against an employee who discloses the amount of his or her wages. This law was enacted to protect employees who wanted to discuss some aspect of their compensation with their coworkers, including possible increase in pay, perceived pay disparities, or the awarding of bonuses.
Additionally, New Jersey recently passed a bill that will be the nation’s strongest law to combat pay discrimination. The law increases the possibility that women can uncover pay discrimination, it strengthens the legal tools women can use when seeking justice, it expands the number of years of back pay a victim of pay discrimination can recover, and it deters companies from perpetuating wage discrimination. More specifically, the law allows victims to recover up to six years of back pay, takes away unfair employer defenses, and will only permit pay differences if the employer can show the difference was based on seniority, education and training, or merit.
Oregon Senate Bill 1514 amends the state's Equal Pay Act to enable employers to offer vaccine incentives, hiring bonuses, and retention bonuses until 180 days after the expiration of the COVID-19 state of emergency.
Mississippi prohibits employers from paying “an employee a wage at a rate less than the rate at which an employee of the opposite sex in the same establishment is paid for equal work on a job, the performance of which requires equal skill, education, effort and responsibility, and which is performed under similar working conditions.” See the law for more information.