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On Monday, the Biden administration marked the 15th anniversary of the passage of landmark gender equality legislation by taking steps toward closing wage gaps and improving pay transparency for workers—including those in the federal government.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a final regulation that bars federal agencies from considering an applicant’s non-federal salary history when setting pay for new federal employees.
Ending the use of salary history when making decisions about salaries is proven to help curb pay discrimination that can follow workers from job to job and ensure that salaries are based on applicants’ skills and experience, the Biden administration said.
On Jan. 29, 2009, former President Obama signed into law the bipartisan Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which strengthened worker protections against pay discrimination. Passage of the bill had been a long-sought goal of NTEU, and our members supported the cause by sending letters of support to their congressional representatives.
According to OPM, the gender pay gap for the federal government’s civilian workforce in 2022 was 5.6 percent, while the national gender pay gap sits at 16 percent.