HP and Siemens join the list of corporations that Emery | Reddy, PLLC Attorneys are pressuring to abide by the salary transparency law passed in January 2023. The corporations follow many of their predecessors in removing their cases to Seattle federal court.
Hundreds of Washington state corporations continually neglect to follow the law and post wages on their job postings, despite the thousands—even millions—of dollars in fees it will cost them to fight it. “This indicates that for HP, challenging Washington’s wage transparency law is cheaper than simply complying with it,” Attorney Timothy Emery told reporters.
Thousands of job seekers applied for postings that did not meet the requirements of the salary transparency law at HP alone since January 2023. With the $5,000 penalty due to each applicant, HP will owe tens of millions of dollars to those affected.
But Emery | Reddy Attorneys are not only seeking monetary compensation for the class. They hope to enact injunctive relief that will require the company to abide by the salary transparency law.
“HP will not admit that wage secrecy aids its bottom line, but every cent that would otherwise be paid as fair wages contributes to profitability,” Emery continued. “It also guarantees inequitable outcomes.”
Corporations as large as HP can afford to break the law if fines are the only penalty for them. Injunctive relief will obligate the corporate giant abides by the law, preventing them from continuing to pay their workers unfairly.
Shannon Spencer, plaintiff represented by Emery | Reddy Attorneys against Siemens Corp., applied for a position as a field service tech; however, the company never disclosed a pay range for the role during the application process.
Spencer, along with thousands of others who applied to similar postings, has been “unable to evaluate the pay for the position and compare that pay to other available positions in the marketplace,” he reports.
When a company hides their pay from potential new hires, those job seekers are unable to make informed decisions that could impact the course of their career and, consequently, their life.
Neglecting salary transparency laws also affects current employees. If a veteran employee were to see a higher salary than what they earn on an entry-level job posting, they might ask for a raise—a risk that big corporations are not willing to take.
“The Washington legislature has spoken: Washington employers like Siemens will be held accountable if they continue to violate Washington’s wage transparency laws,” Timothy Emery told reporters from Law 360.
Emery | Reddy’s Attorneys are dedicated to protecting the rights of workers, even when it means fighting some of the largest companies in the world. “If it’s not us, it’s not anybody,” Timothy said in a recent interview. Emery and his team await the decision from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington for further movement on the salary transparency cases.
