Job seekers in Connecticut may soon know up front what a prospective employer may pay for a position. State lawmakers are considering a proposed bill that would require employers to list salary ranges on all job postings.
It would be an amendment to a current state law mandating that businesses disclose salaries to job applicants upon request.
Democratic State Sen. Julie Kusher, represents Danbury, New Fairfield, and Ridgefield, and co-chairs the state legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee. During a committee hearing on Tuesday, Kushner said the bill, if passed, would lead to a more transparent hiring process.
“It is believed that by knowing what the salary is, going in, that a person would be less likely to undervalue their worth, and they might be more likely to negotiate for pay within that salary range,” Kushner said.
The proposed bill, which would also mandate posting benefits, will soon head to the state House for a vote.
Kushner and advocates say the bill would also help address the gender wage gap.
Republican members of the committee such as State Rep. Joe Canino, who represents Torrington, said employers would suffer due to competitors knowing about their salary and benefit offerings, making it tougher to attract qualified candidates.
“It provides their competitors with a really detailed description of all of the employment benefits that they offer, and allows their employers to compete with information that they wouldn't have otherwise had and that they are not deserving of.”
Paul Amarone, with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA), testified that the bill could deter job applicants from applying for certain positions.
“For candidates at the high end of a posted salary range, they may be dissuaded to apply, as the posted salary range does not fit their desirable salary,” Amarone said.
Democratic State Rep. Anne Hughes, who represents Easton, Redding and Weston, said in the hearing employers aren’t necessarily bound by the salary range disclosures.
Hughes said the main reason is to give job hunters a better understanding of what they are most likely going to be paid before they apply.
“It's largely to stop wasting everyone's time if we're going through the application process, and we have no idea until you get to the third interview what the range is. A lot of applicants don't want to have their time wasted like that."
Hughes and Kushner spoke about the gender pay gap, where women on average are paid less than men, which was already a focus of a 2021 state law, which prohibits wage discrimination due to sex.
But advocates, such as Tonishia Signore, policy director for She Leads Justice, said in written testimony Connecticut women in the workforce made around 78-to-88 cents for every dollar a man made, from 2000 to 2023, according to a policy report she cited from CT Voices for Children.
The numbers she wrote are worse when looking at the average wages of Black and Latina women in the state. Signore said the bill would actually increase qualified candidates.
“When employers provide pay transparency, they are more likely to attract serious candidates who are qualified and interested in the posted job,” Signore said.
