Philadelphia mayor signs bill banning salary history inquiries by employers News
Philadelphia mayor signs bill banning salary history inquiries by employers

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney [official website] on Monday signed a bill [text, PDF] into law making Philadelphia the first US city to bar employers from asking applicants about their past salaries. The bill is designed [official website] to help decrease the wage gap between men and women, as women on average earn 83 percent of men’s salaries [PEW study]. The Philadelphia ordinance allows employees to volunteer information about their salary histories but prohibits employers from asking for a prospective employees salary history. Violators of the rule can face up to a $2,000 fine. Comcast, headquartered in Philadelphia, has said that it will challenge the ordinance in court. Kenney responded [Think Progress report] last week: “We may get sued, we may not, but [the Philadelphia city council] passed this measure with a unanimous vote, and I see no reason why I shouldn’t sign it.”

The gap between wages earned by men and women has been a contentious issue in recent months. Philadelphia is the first city in the nation to legalize a ban on salary history inquiries, although the Massachusetts legislature passed a similar bill [text, official website] in 2016. New York City and the state legislatures of New Jersey and Pennsylvania are also considering similar measures. In November New York City mayor Bill de Blasio [official website] signed [official website] an executive order that bans city agencies from asking applicants about salary history. In March 2016 five members of the US women’s soccer team filed an equal pay complaint [JURIST report] against the US Soccer Federation. And in October 2015 California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill [JURIST report] that aims to close the wage gap between male and female employees.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.