PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The Rhode Island Senate has passed a bill designed to close the state’s gender pay gap.
The Providence Journal reports that the bill approved Thursday would make the state’s fair pay law stronger and ban employers from asking job candidates their salary history.
The bill would also allow women to sue companies for paying men more for “comparable work.”
Under the current law, women must meet a tougher standard and prove that men are being paid more for “equal work.”
The bill moves on to the House where there’s been opposition from business groups.
Pay equity advocates had said a House rewrite of the pay equity bill last year would have left women worse off than they are now.
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