When the Boss Says, “Don’t Tell Your Coworkers How Much You Get Paid”
September 15, 2015

Our employers want us to keep our mouths shut about our income. Author, Jonathan Timm, points out that a high percentage of employers are breaking the law by prohibiting or strongly discouraging employees, mainly women and people of color, from discussing pay with other coworkers by putting gag rules in place. Those gag rules threaten the employee either verbally or on paper to either fire or use harsh consequences of demotions, lower pay, or cold shoulder treatment. Not many employees seem to know their rights in order to fight against their employers that break the law. 50 years after the Equal Pay Act, many studies have shown that women are still paid less than men for the same work.
Employees are unaware that President Obama recently signed two (2) executive actions addressing workplace transparency and accountability. One prohibits federal contractors from retaliating against employees ho discuss their pay with one another. The other requires contractors to provide compensation data on their employees, including race and sex. But while these actions protect workers at federally contracted employers, they do not affect others. The bill that would cover the rest of workers is the Paycheck Fairness At. The law would both strengthen penalties to employers who retaliate against workers for discussing pay and require employers to provide a justification for wage differentials. Those reforms are necessary to address the widespread illegal problem that the law has failed to address for decades. Gag rules violate a fundamental labor right and allow for discriminatory pay schemes. In conclusion, no matter how confident an employee can be toward their employer, they will still always become so awkward and self-conscious about negotiating their salaries or asking coworkers about