Mind the Pay Gap: Die Gehaltsschere wird durch neues Gesetz geschlossen – aber nicht in Deutschland
Eine der letzten Tabuzonen im HR ist das Thema Gehalt. Besonders der Unterschied für Gender-spezifische Gehälter. 22% – das ist die magische Zahl, die sich in den Köpfen der Politiker, Arbeitsmarktexperten und Talk-Show-Teilnehmer eingeprägt haben – ob sie stimmt oder nicht, spielt eigentlich in Zeiten des Hype keine Rolle. Während sich Österreich und die Schweiz der Zerschlagung dieses gordischen Knoten durch Gesetzesmassnahmen annähern, bleibt der Gender Pay Gap in Deutschland ein Schlafmittel der Gerechtigkeitsdiskussion. Nun hat der US-Bundesstaat Massachusetts ein neues Gesetz in Kraft gesetzt. Künftig ist es illegal, dass Recruiter im Jobinterview nach dem letzten Gehalt des Bewerbers fragen. Viele mehr soll der zukünftige Arbeitgeber ein Gehaltsangebot unterbreiten, das dem Marktwert des Bewerbers entsprecht. Tea Party in Boston – Ansteckungsgefahr für Deutschlands Arbeitmarkt: Null.
Stacy Cowley berichtet in der New York Times berichtet über diese gesetzgeberische Innovation.
In a groundbreaking effort to close the wage gap between men and women, Massachusetts has become the first state to bar employers from asking about applicants’ salaries before offering them a job.
The new law will require hiring managers to state a compensation figure upfront — based on what an applicant’s worth is to the company, rather than on what he or she made in a previous position.
The bipartisan legislation, signed into law on Monday by Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, is being pushed as a model for other states, as the issue of men historically outearning women who do the same job has leapt onto the national political scene.
Nationally, there have been repeated efforts to strengthen equal pay laws — which are already on the books but tend to lack teeth — but none have succeeded so far. Hillary Clinton has tried to make equal pay a signature issue of her campaign, while Donald J. Trump’s daughter Ivanka praised her father for his actions on this issue when she spoke at the Republican National Convention.
By barring companies from asking prospective employees how much they earned at their last jobs, Massachusetts will ensure that the historically lower wages and salaries assigned to women and minorities do not follow them for their entire careers. Companies tend to set salaries for new hires using their previous pay as a base line.
“I think very few businesses consciously discriminate, but they need to become aware of it,” said State Senator Pat Jehlen, a Democrat and one of the bill’s co-sponsors. “These are things that don’t just affect one job; it keeps women’s wages down over their entire lifetime.”
Federal law already prohibits gender-based pay discrimination, but violations are hard to prove and wage gaps persist in nearly every industry.
More: www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/business/dealbook/wage-gap-massachusetts-law-salary-history.html
