Employers across Hawaii would have to disclose pay ranges to employees and job applicants in an effort to eliminate gender and other wage discrimination under House Bill 745.

Employers would not be allowed to “discriminate among employees by paying compensation to employees at a rate less than the rate at which the employer pays compensation to employees of another race, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, religion, color, ancestry, disability, marital status, arrest and court record, or domestic or sexual violence victim status for substantially similar work,” according to HB 745.

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The measure cites U.S. Bureau of Labor data that:

>> Women in Hawaii earned 79.4% of what men earned in 2020, compared with 82.3% nationwide.

>> Hawaii ranks 37th among all states and the District of Columbia in gender income equality.

>> Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander women earn only 66% of white males earn nationally.

“The actual or perceived gender classifications of employees as men, women, gender-nonconforming, or other culturally specific identities (such as mahu) should not affect the rate at which a worker is compensated for their labor,” according to HB 745, which is moving through the House and has been assigned hearings before three committees.