Apparently, the legislature is not in the mood to object to making public employee salaries even more transparent. A client recently asked me whether I knew the status of S.B. 107, [here] titled the “Governmental Salary Act” which requires Commonwealth and local agency public employers to post annual salaries of all employees on the internet. Local governments will be required to post current salaries on their local website and send a link to the page to the State Treasurer’s office. I inquired at my Senator’s office, Jeffrey Piccola, and learned from Kirsten Kenyon, a member of his staff, that while most bills are on a hold until the budget is passed, she suspects this one will be passed in the fall session.
In response, I am sending the following comments, and hope you will consider echoing them to your state representatives.
I have long been an advocate of transparency and believe compensation professionals in both private and public sector agree employers should be accountable in two basic ways: One, the how of setting pay, and two, associated ranges which provide the minimum and maximum pay rates, or pay ranges, for job classifications. This information meets the test of integrity and accountability, the two key factors in recruiting the best candidates. It also signals to the public and relevant stakeholders that the employer is acting responsibly.
After all, whether public or private, stakeholders care about the same thing: does this organization use a fair and equitable pay system? If it does not, then no one wants to work there, or invest in market shares, or support tax increases, whatever the case may be.
Posting specific compensation rates does not accomplish the test of whether pay is fair and equitable. Specific pay rates do not tell us what factors govern the setting of pay or how the job is valued compared to others in the organization or in the job market. For example, the public is largely unaware that professional municipal managers with graduate degrees are a dying breed (though they will not appreciate my metaphor) and as a result they are commanding ever increasing salaries because they are so few. Will the public posting of salaries reflect education levels and years of experience? Has anyone fashioning this bill thought about what it will be like at public meetings if a handful of the public decide to protest pay rates of individuals. This strikes me as irresponsible policy!
The bill states that nothing in it is intended to interfere with the duty of a public employer to provide pay information under the Right-to-Know Law. Unlike the proposed legislation, the Right-to-Know law provides a reasonable process and procedure for requesting specific pay information that allows an employer to understand who is requesting what information and for what purpose. Although it may seem to be a minor detail, it is important in our political process that a measure of due diligence, as well as, due process, be incorporated into the laws we make.
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