Proposed bill requires employers disclose salary range on job listings

HARTFORD, Conn. (WFSB) - The gender wage gap has long been a controversial issue across the country and here in Connecticut.

Today it was the topic of conversation at the state capitol, where advocates were rallying for a new bill to help close that gap.

This bill would require employers to increase transparency about pay range and help address other factors that contribute to Connecticut women, especially those of color, making much less than men.

According to the Pew Research Center, women earned an average of 82% of what men earned in 2022.

This is a trend that Representative Kate Farrar says is prevalent in Connecticut.

“Women continue to make 83 cents on the dollar in our state, and that gap is even larger for black women, Native American women, and Latinas,” said Rep. Kate Farrar, Democrat, West Hartford.

According to the National Womens Law Center, Native American women in Connecticut make 60 cents to the dollar compared to white men, black women make 56 cents to the dollar, and Latinas make 49 cents.

This all adds up to a total annual wage gap of $13,444, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families.

Rep. Farrar is one of the multiple sponsors of bill 6273 which would require employers to disclose salary ranges on job postings.

Farrar says the bill would address other factors that would put women on the same playing field as men.

“Ensuring that women and girls are pursuing some of our higher wage and higher growth opportunities and that we’re supporting our paid family medical leave laws we have in place and expanding paid sick days as well, all of those things will close the wage gap.” Farrar said.

Nicole Sanclemente is the policy director of the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund, an agency that fights for economic rights for women of color.

“If the gap were eliminated completely, women in Connecticut would be able to pay off their student loan debt in 2.6 years as well as pay for a years’ worth of childcare and 8 months of health insurance premiums,” said Nicole.

California, Colorado and areas of New York state have already passed similar legislation.

Farrar says the bill currently sits in the state’s labor committee and will be voted on sometime next week.

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