Michigan already has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. We don’t need to make it worse. The last thing we should be doing is adding barriers that make it more difficult to hire and harder for folks to land good-paying jobs. We can support fairness—much of it is already in law—but we can support fairness without creating new mandates that get in the way of real progress. For these reasons, I ask my colleagues to support me in voting “no.”
Senator Anthony asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator Anthony’s statement is as follows:
It seems like every day in this body we stand up and talk about the affordability crisis that is facing both our state and our nation. While we see federal policies continue to wreak havoc on our state’s economy, there is one clear step we can take in this Legislature to address this problem: we can make sure our workers are being paid fairly for the work they are doing. Wage discrimination is not an abstract problem. It’s disappointing to hear women in this body speaking against this policy. Clear data shows that there are longstanding inequalities across Michigan, and consistent gaps for women and people of color who are especially impacted by unfair compensation practices.
This bill is straightforward. It prohibits employers from asking an applicant about their past pay, their past benefits, their credit history, and their credit reports. Some employers may not even realize how simply asking these questions during the interview process perpetuates the problem of pay inequity. How much you’re making or how much you’ve made at a previous employer doesn’t matter. It doesn’t show that you would be a great employee or that you would be a poor employee. How much you have in terms of your line of credit or other factors has no bearing on your ability to do the job at hand.
We can’t ensure that this bill will completely solve our gender gap, but it’s a significant step forward. So I ask my colleagues to not look out for their own interests, but to look out for the interest of workers across the state of Michigan. I urge a “yes” vote.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 205, entitled
A bill to amend 1978 PA 368, entitled “Public health code,” (MCL 333.1101 to 333.25211) by adding section 10401.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: