Brown Signs Jackson’s Pay Equity Legislation

Gov. Jerry Brown held a rare bill-signing ceremony for State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson’s gender-based pay equity legislation, using the Rosie the Riveter park in Richmond as the photo-op backdrop. Jackson’s bill protects employees from retaliation by their employers when they seek information on what other workers doing “substantially similar” jobs are paid. Jackson’s bill requires companies to pay the same amount for “similar” jobs. Enforcement of the bill goes to a state employment agency, which has yet to determine what jobs are similar to others. In California, women earn on average 84 cents to every dollar earned by a man.