Watch CBS News

Advocates Protest Suit In Philly Halting Step Toward Lowering Wage Gap

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A law prohibiting Philadelphia employers from asking a job applicant's wage history would have taken effect, Tuesday, if not for a suit against it by the Chamber of Commerce, and advocates used the occasion to protest the Chamber's action.

Renee is pretty sure her salary history is costing her a couple of thousand dollars a year.

Her boss asked for it when he hired her as a line chef. She'd never made more than $25 an hour; he offered her $13. But when she started, she found out two men in the identical job got $14 an hour.

ALSO READ: Private Sector Is Urged To Help Philadelphia Public Schools

"And I can't really complain since he's already paying me more than I was making," she said.

It's the kind of built in bias the law was meant to overcome, to help close the wage gap, which councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown says is a process that's moving kind of slowly.

"When I came to city council, women were making 77 cents to $1 (for men). 15 years later, women are making 79 cents to $1. If we continue at that pace, my 21-year-old daughter will be 75 before women are making a dollar to a dollar," she said.

The Chamber declined comment.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.