Virginia Democrats back bills to address gender, racial pay disparities

Forthcoming legislation aims to bring greater transparency in the hiring process and combat wage discrimination in Virginia.

Two Democratic state lawmakers plan to file bills to address gender and racial pay disparities. 

State Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-Herndon) and state Del. Michelle Lopes Maldonado (D–Manassas) are working on legislation to require employers to post salary ranges in their job listings and prevent them from asking applicants about their salary histories. 

Applicants could volunteer their salary histories, but the legislation would make it so applicants could not be required to share what they’ve made at other jobs.

“We’re not asking anybody to give anybody anything that they’re not qualified for,” Boysko said in an interview. “We’re asking just for some clarity on the employer side, as they look at all candidates.”

Gender and racial pay disparities persist despite the fact that federal and state law prohibits pay discrimination.

Women in the US with year-round, full-time jobs on average make about 80 cents for every dollar paid to men—a pay gap that amounts to $11,550 less per year in median earnings, according to a February 2025 National Women’s Law Center report. 

For Black women, the pay gap is even worse: they make 65 cents for every dollar white, non-hispanic men make, according to the advocacy organization Equal Rights Advocates.

The proposed changes to Virginia law aim to bring more transparency to the application process and help job seekers avoid wasting time applying for jobs that won’t pay them enough. The goal is also to prevent businesses from taking advantage of people who have been historically underpaid by hiring them for less than is fair. 

“(Women are) coming from lower salaries already, and so they carry that into the next position,” said Vasu Reddy, director of state policy for workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center.  “They also tend to be viewed more negatively for negotiating their salaries compared to men and will be perceived as pushy or ungrateful or things like that that would hurt their chances.”

It’s inappropriate for companies to set a budget for a position, discover that an applicant’s salary history is lower than what was budgeted for the position, and then hire them for less than what was budgeted, Maldonado said in an interview. 

“We should pay market price,” Maldonado said. “We should be competitive, and we should share with people what the realistic salary range is.”

Boysko said she has carried a version of the legislation going back to 2017, when she served in the House of Delegates. The bill passed out of the General Assembly last year, but got vetoed by outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Youngkin said in his veto statement that wage discrimination is illegal. “Compensation decisions rely on various factors such as market value, funding constraints, and labor market competition,” Youngkin said. 

But the market has yet to solve for unequal pay for equal work, especially by bad actors, said Reddy.

“They create a race to the bottom … [and] make it harder for employers who do want to do the right thing to compete,” Reddy said of companies that don’t care if they’re paying a discriminatory wage. 

Boysko said the proposed changes in the legislation would not be difficult for companies to incorporate. 

“It’s not too hard for somebody to figure out how much an employee should be paid,” said Boysko. “It is hard to live on less money because you were born a woman or a minority.”