Oregon employers say provisions of the state’s 2017 equal pay law are hurting their recruiting by effectively prohibiting sign-on bonuses.
Backed by both public and private employers, House Bill 3205 aims to amend Oregon’s Equal Pay Act to exempt certain bonuses from equity considerations. But some worker advocates say it would open a loophole that would promote pay disparities.
The state’s current equal pay laws prohibit employers from paying an employee a higher rate than a coworker for similar work unless the pay disparity is justified by nondiscriminatory factors such as seniority, education, training or experience.
Under the existing law, all types of compensation, including bonuses and benefits, are considered in determining whether there is a pay disparity. That means if a new hire receives a sign-on bonus but a current employee doesn’t, employers must justify the difference in pay with one of those nondiscriminatory factors.
H.B. 3205, introduced by Sen. James Manning Jr., D-Eugene, and Reps. Janelle Bynum, D-Clackamas, and Jeff Helfrich, R-Hood River, would exempt hiring and retention bonuses from equal pay calculations. A number of public and private employers, including TriMet, Washington County, Oregon State University and UPS, who say they’ve had difficulty hiring or retaining employees, have endorsed the bill.
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