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Mayor Kenney To Sign Controversial Wage History Bill

by Pat Loeb

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A controversial bill that would prohibit Philadelphia employers from asking job applicants about their wage history appears poised to become law.

Mayor Jim Kenney has indicated he'll sign it next week.

The bill is meant to overcome past wage discrimination.

It attracted little notice until a couple of weeks after it unanimously passed city council, and what business leaders describe as a "slow burn" built among employers, who protested that the city was going a step too far in intruding on business practices.

The bill's sponsor, councilman Bill Greenlee, knew the Chamber of Commerce was against it-- they'd sent a letter in opposition-- but he was surprised when weeks later, after it passed council unanimously, Chamber leaders declared war, calling it "the straw that broke the camel's back."

"To go from that, what I would call kind of blasé opposition, to going nuclear, and talking about a lawsuit and costing the city money was, I thought, bizarre," Greenlee said.

That prompted the mayor to postpone signing the bill, and he says the law department is still looking at it, but it's clear he's made up his mind.

"We understand the issues that were raised and our law department diligently reviewed those against case precedent, and we don't believe that they're valid and we may get sued, we may not, but council passed this measure by unanimous vote, and I don't see why I shouldn't sign it," said Kenney.

Chamber officials who raised the issue, and the specter of a lawsuit over it, were not available for comment.

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