We recently learned that some employers are telling their workers that Rhode Island’s new pay equity law does not apply to them, and even that it does not affect wages at all. While we cannot know everyone’s precise situation, it struck us that it would be helpful for employees to have the essentials of the new law available to them. While the act does many things, the highlights for workers are below.
The core of the new law is that wages for the same position must be consistent across race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, age (specifically those over 40), or country of ancestral origin. However, there are reasons why an employer may permissibly choose to pay some workers more than others. Some of the more self-explanatory are that employers may pay more based on seniority, a merit system, a “system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production” (e.g., piecemeal work), shift differentials (e.g., paying night shift workers an incentive), and reimbursement for necessary work-related travel. It’s worth noting that the law applies to all employers regardless of size.
Others are more complicated. For example, an employer may increase pay for a more highly educated employee, but only if it is job related and consistent with business necessity. That means a hospital may not pay a doctor who is qualified as a surgeon more than one who is not for the same position, unless surgery is actually part of their job. The local cost of living can also factor into pay, but only outside of Rhode Island. For example, it costs approximately 35% more to live in Boston than Burrillville, so a business with employees in both places could pay the Boston employees 35% more for the same work. However, because the law does not allow pay differentials based on cost of living within Rhode Island, the business would have to pay all its Rhode Island employees in the same position the same wage whether they were in Burrillville, Bristol, or Block Island, unless they are covered by another exception.
The law also protects workers from having their wage history used against them. In other words, if you were receiving less pay than your coworkers in the same job, your employer cannot continue paying you less as of January 1, 2023, except for one of the reasons above or something quite similar. New hires are affected too: your new employer cannot offer you lower wages than those already working in the same position just because you were earning less at an old job. In fact, the new law makes it illegal for new employers to even ask about your old pay until they extend an employment offer and prevents them from retracting their offer based on wage history.
The same section of the law also gives you the right to request the wage range for the position you are in or applying for. Once you make the request, the employer has to provide the range to you, although the law is currently somewhat unclear on how long they have to do so. Even if you do not request it, an employer must provide you with the wage range for your position when you are hired, or when you first move into the position for internal movement.
The punishment for an employer’s failure to comply with the law can be severe. The new law authorizes special damages of up to $10,000.00 (although more may be available in some cases) for certain violations and allows for attorneys’ fees to be shifted to the employer.
There are other important provisions too, more than there is space to go into here. To name just a few, employers may not reduce employee wages to come into compliance with the new law, cannot stop employees from discussing wages and, most importantly, cannot prevent or retaliate against employees for invoking their rights under the new law. So, if you have any questions and want to pursue a claim to get you the pay you earned, we would be more than happy to talk with you about your rights.
Sinapi Law Associates, Ltd. has a proven track record over a period of nearly 40 years of protecting and vindicating the employment law rights of individuals. You can learn more about our employment law practice here. If you believe your employment law rights may have been violated, you can submit a request for a free case evaluation here or give us a call at 401-739-9690.
