Columbus City Council introduces legislation to create better pay equity among employers
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Columbus City Council member Lourdes Barroso de Padilla is introducing legislation that she and her fellow members hope will create more pay equity among Columbus employers.
If passed, the legislation would bar employers from asking job candidates about their salary or credit history under most circumstances.
“Being both a woman and being a Latina, the pay and equity gap is something that has affected my career,” Barroso de Padilla said Tuesday night during a public hearing.
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City Council President Shannon Hardin said he is excited that this could help close the pay gap, specifically for women and people of color.
“This is not about anyone’s values or anyone intentionally paying women or women of color less,” he said. “It’s about systematic issues that have been there and created these issues.”
Council member Emmanuel Remy echoed Hardin’s statement.
“We as a city should stand for equality, progressiveness and moving towards opportunities so everyone is on equal footing,” he said.
Pay Inequity
Women are paid 16% less than men, earning 84 cents for every dollar a man makes. Black women earn 64 cents and Latina women earn 46 cents for every dollar a man makes, according to Kirsten Estose, Columbus City Council's legislative analyst.
The average woman loses out on more than $400,000 over a 40-year career, and Black and Latina women lose out on close to $1 million, Estose said.
“The pay gap is directly contributed to the wealth gap,” Barroso de Padilla said.
Toledo and Cincinnati implemented similar legislation that bars employers from asking prospective employees about salary history, joining several other cities and states.
Workers have seen an overall 5% pay increase in places where employers have stopped asking about salary history, and employment has grown 3% in places where employers have stopped assessing the credit history of most applicants, Estose said.
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“We can’t fix it all with this legislation, but we hope to make an effort at some solutions to the pay gap and the wealth gap that we see in our country and in central Ohio,” Estose said.
Alice Foeller, cofounder of the nonprofit Elevate Northland, shared how she was being paid thousands of dollars less than a male coworker with less experience as a journalist in Chicago.
“He was a guy and I was a girl,” she said. “Year after year, my 3% raise was calculated from my starting salary, so the deficits compounded.
“Employers pay not based on role and what it commands, but based on what they think they can get away with because women have historically made less and disclosed lower previous salaries," she said.
Credit Score
Just looking at a credit score number doesn’t tell the full picture or take into consideration that a person may be going through a divorce or have unpaid medical bills, Barroso de Padilla said.
“This is just a moment in time, not the totality of your character,” she said.
The average credit score in Ohio is 685, said J. Averi Frost, Freedom Equity’s executive director.
“Women, especially Black women, have less access and exposure to opportunities,” she said. “We are often disenfranchised based on our genetic makeup and/or where our ancestors landed and were dropped off when they got to America.”
Sierra Austin-King, a senior lecturer of Black feminist studies at Ohio State University, said she hopes to see pay equity in her lifetime.
"If not, I will proudly pass the torch to my daughters, who I know and trust will know exactly what to do,” she said. “As Black women and women of color, we have to work twice as hard for less."
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Next steps
Barroso de Padilla said she hopes the proposed legislation will be voted on in March.
Typically, legislation goes into effect 30 days after it's passed, but that’s not the case with this proposed legislation. If passed, there would be a 365-day implementation period because businesses need more than 30 days to change their human resource practices, Estose said.
City Council is planning to recommend that the Community Relations Commission work to implement the legislation and resolve complaints through inquiry and mediation, and civil fines could be implemented if necessary.
@megankhenry
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus City Council introduces legislation to improve pay equity
