STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2456

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2313

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2313 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EQUAL PAY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Prohibit an employer from using a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production as an affirmative defense to pay differential;

     (2)  Clarify that an employer may use a bona fide seniority system, bona fide merit system, or bona fide occupational qualifications as an affirmative defense to pay differential;

     (3)  Clarify that an employer is prohibited from discriminating between employees because of sex by paying wages to employees at a rate less than the rate at which the employer pays wages to employees of the opposite sex for substantially similar work and under similar working conditions, with certain exceptions; and

     (4)  Prohibit employers from restricting wage disclosure.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i Civil Rights Commission, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, Hawaii Women's Coalition, Hawai‘i State Democratic Women's Caucus, Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii, and five individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the National Federation of Independent Business and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that pay disparity persists between men and women who do similar work.  The persistent disparity in earnings has a significant impact on the economic security and welfare of thousands of working women and their families.

     Your Committee further finds that pay secrecy inhibits workers from pursuing claims of pay discrimination because women cannot challenge wage discrimination that they do not know exists.  Implementation of this measure improves the State's laws pertaining to equal pay and wage disclosures and will encourage greater gender equality in the workplace.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Reinserting language to authorize an employer to use a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production as an affirmative defense to pay differential;

     (2)  Inserting language to authorize an employer to use a bona fide factor other than sex as an affirmative defense to pay differential; provided that the factor is not based on or derived from a sex-based differential in compensation, is job-related to the position in question, and is consistent with a legitimate business necessity;

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2313, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2313, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair