Democratic Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson introduced a bill today that would tighten restrictions on paying employees different salaries for comparable work. It would also prohibit retaliation against workers who ask about the wages of their colleagues. It's aimed at strengthening California's equal pay law.
Jackson says women need to feel secure when they try to make sure they are being paid fairly.
"We can’t simply ask women to lean in if we aren’t also going to give them the legal protections to lean on when they do," she says.
The caucus says women working full time in California make 84 cents to every dollar men earn. The gap is wider for women of color. Latina women make just 44 cents to every dollar white men make.
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