The business community has spoken out against a bill that would allow employees to compare their paychecks, saying it could foster resentment in the workplace.
LD 84, “An Act to Ensure Fair Pay,” would outlaw retaliation against an employee for sharing salary information with coworkers. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Deborah Simpson, D-Auburn, told the Legislature’s Labor Committee last week that the bill is designed to equalize pay for men and women by removing barriers that prevent women from knowing they’re being discriminated against, according to the Statehouse News Service. Jim McGregor, a lobbyist for the Maine Merchants Association, said he supports equal pay, but salary and benefit levels can be based on many factors. “(This bill) has the real potential of creating dissent and unrest in the workplace without really accomplishing anything,” he said, according to the news service. Peter Daigle, director of operations for Lafayette Hotels, which oversees 21 hotels in Maine, called the law’s language “frighteningly broad.”
William Peabody, director of the state Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Standards, supported the bill, as did representatives from the Maine Women’s Lobby, the Maine Civil Liberties Union, the WAGE Project and the Maine State Employees Association. The Labor Committee is scheduled to consider the legislation on Feb. 19.
