Why Everyone Is Talking About Pay Equity

Pay equity has been a hot topic. Besides the continued focus on gender inequality driven by the #MeToo movement—the effects of which are still rippling through the nation—the high-profile pay equity lawsuit brought by the U.S. women's soccer team also has dominated headlines in recent months. Federal and state law on the topic continues to evolve.

In March of this year, some 28 female soccer players took the U.S. Soccer Federation to court, alleging they were consistently paid less than their male counterparts even though their performance has been superior. Then they won the 2019 World Cup. Public sentiment and corporate sponsors rallied to their cause. In August, the parties reportedly engaged in secret mediation sessions in New York City, but these sessions failed in dramatic fashion. The women's team accused the U.S. Soccer Federation of being determined "to perpetuate fundamentally discriminatory workplace conditions and behavior," and the U.S. Soccer Federation accused the women's team of taking an unduly aggressive stance and "presenting misleading information to the public." It seems unlikely the conflict will be resolved anytime soon.

Increasing pressure to close the gap in pay between men and women has translated into a complicated patchwork of legislation at both the state and federal levels. In 2019, at least 11 states have enacted or will soon enact new pay equity legislation, each with different requirements and effects. On July 10, for example, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation significantly expanding the protections of New York's Pay Equity Law. Alabama, Maine, Nebraska and Maryland also have implemented or will implement similar pay equity laws before the end of 2019, joining states like California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming, each of which has enacted new pay equity laws since 2017. At last count, 49 of the 50 states—all but Mississippi—have some form of pay equity law on their books. And that doesn't take into account pay equity measures cities and counties have enacted in recent years

The new state and local laws often feature a ban on salary history questions in job applications, designed to disrupt the perpetuation of lower salaries for women and minorities. Some also expand the classes of protected workers by including categories other than gender, such as gender identity or marital status. A few states go even further, like New York and New Jersey, whose...