“Hiding the data doesn't get us anywhere,” said state Sen. Monique Limón, a Santa Barbara Democrat who introduced the bill, in an interview. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo
07/24/2022 08:08 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES — California could be on the verge of cracking open a closely guarded secret: how much your co-workers make.
A state lawmaker’s proposal would publicize the pay scales at thousands of companies and temp agencies nationwide, requiring large businesses to report breakdowns by gender, race and ethnicity — data the state would then post online.
The swipe at inequities in the private sector is the latest example of progressive Democrats in the world’s fifth-largest economy trying to shape corporate policy, a first-of-its-kind move that could ripple to other blue states. And it comes as a growing number of major companies, including CitiGroup and Intel, have released their internal workforce data.
“It’s very simple: You can’t solve a problem where you can’t see the data,” state Sen. Monique Limón, a Santa Barbara Democrat who introduced the bill, said in an interview. “Hiding the data doesn’t get us anywhere.”
But dozens of industry associations are lobbying business-friendly Democrats to defang or kill the California measure, arguing that the data would be misleading and expose companies to costly litigation, and that it would push some employers to leave the state. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will face immense pressure to side with powerful competing...
On Sept. 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced updates to Justice Manual provisions governing False Claims Act (FCA) litigation. The updates (1) limit the use of nonbinding agency gui...