San Francisco Passes Pay Parity Ordinance Affecting Employee Onboarding

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisor’s passed a pay equity ordinance on July 11, 2017 which is now awaiting the Mayor’s signature. The “Parity in Pay” ordinance will become operative July 1, 2018. The ordinance will ban private employers from inquiring about and considering a job applicant’s prior salary history. It will also apply to certain contractors working with the city of San Francisco.  The ordinance, which adds Article 33 to the Police Code and Chapter 12K to the Administrative Code, can be found by clicking here.

• The ordinance will apply to applicants applying for private employment to be performed in the geographic boundaries of San Francisco (the city and county). Under certain circumstances, the ordinance also applies to applicants for private employment where the work is performed under a contract with the city of San Francisco or when the work is performed on city property used under a lease, permit or license.
• The prohibition is such that an employer cannot consider or rely on an applicant’s salary history as a factor in determining whether to offer employment to an applicant, or what their salary will be. Furthermore, employers cannot release the salary history of current or former employees to an applicant’s prospective employer without written authorization from the current or former employee, unless the release of salary history is required by law, is part of a publicly available record, or is subject to a collective bargaining agreement.
• If an applicant voluntarily discloses salary history or provides written authorization to the release of salary history, then such can be considered or verified by an employer.

California’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE) will publish and make available in multiple languages notices describing to job applicants and employees their rights under the law. Employers will be required to post such notices in a conspicuous place at their workplace.

San Francisco joins the following states and cities with pay equity ordinances on the books — Delaware, Massachusetts, Oregon, New York City, NY and Philadelphia, PA.