Effective January 1, 2023, the California Equal Pay Law has received a number of amendments from the California Department of Civil Rights (CRD). In conjunction with these modifications, the Department attached a series of guidelines to this law, through which employers will be able to keep up-to-date with the changes made to their employees’ wage data reporting requirements. Some of the key changes to this law include the following:
1. Deadline Changes: Salary data reports for the 2022 reference year must be submitted no later than Wednesday, May 10, 2023.
2. Mean and Median Hourly Rates: The most significant change to the law requires employers to calculate and report their employees’ mean and median hourly rate or contract labor employees by the establishment, job category, race/ethnicity, and gender. Guides provided by the California Department of Civil Rights include detailed instructions on how to calculate mean and median hourly rates.
3. Increased Penalties for Non-Filers: SB 1162 incentivizes employers to report their payment information on time by increasing penalties for deadline violations. The CRD now has the authority to impose sanctions against any employer who fails to file a required report or refuses to do so within the required time frame. Similarly, any labor contractor who fails to provide necessary payment information to an employer will be subject to these same penalties. This happens with penalties starting at $100 per employee whose report is not filed and increasing to $200 for each subcontracted employee.