Under Ontario's Employment Standards Act it is illegal for an employer to "intimidate, dismiss or otherwise penalize an employee or threaten to do so" because the worker has disclosed their own wages or because the worker has inquired about the wages of another worker for the purposes of determining the employer's compliance with the law's Equal Pay for Equal Work provisions.3
In the United Kingdom, the Equality Act 2010 protects the rights of workers to discuss pay and forbids employers from prohibiting a worker's "relevant pay disclosure".4
In the United States, the National Labor Relations Act protects the right of employees to discuss compensation without retaliation from their employer.5
California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Washington have passed compensation transparency laws as of 2023. Some US cities also have compensation transparency laws, including New York City.6
New York enacted a pay transparency law in 2023. The law requires employers to publicly disclose job salary ranges.7 Massachusetts enacted a pay transparency law in July, 2024, which applies to businesses with more than 24 employees, with data reporting for businesses with 100 or more employees.8
Maryland's Equal Pay for Equal Work law states that "an employer may not prohibit an employee from inquiring about, discussing, or disclosing the wages of an employee or another employee".9
Cullen, Zoë (2024). "Is Pay Transparency Good?". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 38 (1): 153–180. doi:10.1257/jep.38.1.153. ISSN 0895-3309. https://doi.org/10.1257%2Fjep.38.1.153 ↩
Cullen, Zoë B.; Perez-Truglia, Ricardo (2018-10-25). "The Motivating (and Demotivating) Effects of Learning Others' Salaries". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2024-11-21. https://hbr.org/2018/10/the-motivating-and-demotivating-effects-of-learning-others-salaries ↩
"Employment Standards Act, 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 41". Government of Ontario. Retrieved 2023-10-08. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 ↩
"Equality Act 2010". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2023-10-08. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/77 ↩
Your Right to Discuss Wages https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/your-rights/your-rights-to-discuss-wages ↩
"New York pay transparency law drives change across the U.S." MSN. Retrieved 2023-10-08. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/new-york-pay-transparency-law-drives-change-across-the-us/ar-AA1h3j8S ↩
Sam Drysdale (July 31, 2024). "Gov. Healey signs wage transparency bill". State House News Service. https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/07/31/gov-healey-massachusetts-wage-transparency-bill ↩
"Equal Pay for Equal Work - Employment Standards Service (ESS)". Maryland Department of Labor. Retrieved 2023-10-08. https://dllr.state.md.us/labor/wages/equalpay.shtml ↩