Cambridge, Mass.
THIS year, each of the eight associate justices of the Supreme Court will earn $203,000. The only woman and the only African-American on the court are paid the same as their six white male colleagues. Only Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. earns more than everyone else, $212,100. Their pay is set by Congress, and it is a matter of public record.
Congress should pass legislation mandating that all workplaces create this kind of transparency by requiring companies to post salaries. It makes sense, especially in light of the court's decision last week requiring employees to file pay discrimination complaints under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act within 180 days of the last pay adjustment.
It's only fair since the five justices who supported this decision must have thought that it was easy for employees to find out whether they are being discriminated against. They must never have had to sidle up to co-workers and whisper nosy questions about pay to find out how they ranked. They must never have been so desperate for proof that they considered hacking into the company database or ransacking the human resources office searching for pay rosters.
It's understandable that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is responsible for investigating pay discrimination complaints, requires evidence. But some employees have not discovered evidence that they are paid less until after the 180 days has expired.
For example, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her dissent cited two cases. One involved a veterinarian in Massachusetts, who learned that she was being paid less than her male counterparts when a newspaper published a list of her colleagues' salaries. The other dealt with a worker at General Motors who learned long after the fact that her starting salary was set lower than those of her male co-workers.
If we are really going to enforce the 180-day rule, then Congress needs to make it easier for workers to procure the necessary evidence. The solution is to make salary data as transparent for ordinary workers as for Supreme Court justices.
Most business owners don't want salary information released, reasoning that it would give their competitors an advantage. Yet many courts have said that wages are set by the market, but a market isn't free if only the buyers of labor know the wages that are paid.
To ease the tension that posting salaries may create, the E.E.O.C. could issue guidelines to employers about how to determine fair salaries and identify the biases against women that result in lower salaries. The E.E.O.C. could remind employers that it is illegal to base pay and promotions on racial and sexual stereotypes.
Before the law goes into effect, companies could have a yearlong grace period to examine their salaries, perhaps with the help of an outside auditor. During that time, the companies would be immune from pay-related discrimination claims. And at the end of the grace period, they would have to provide annual salary lists to all company employees.
Most Americans have never been comfortable discussing their wages. If employees enjoyed discussing salaries with their colleagues, then we would have hit television shows like "Pay in the City" and books and movies like "Salaries and the Single Girl." Contestants on "The Apprentice" would fantasize about suing Donald Trump for discrimination, and the tireless Ugly Betty would question her boss about her meager paycheck.
Requiring companies to post salaries would give employers and employees a chance to begin discussing wages as responsible adults instead of as king and supplicant, or owner and beggar. It would help employees to better understand what their jobs are worth, and it would encourage their bosses to see how much more loyalty and productivity they could get from their workers in the absence of secret salary negotiations. In the end, fewer employees might file discrimination complaints, and if they did, at least they'd be able to gather enough evidence to meet the deadline.
Susan E. Reed, a journalist, is a fellow at the Alicia Patterson Foundation in Washington. -- Yoshie