New State Commission to Look at Colorado Pay Gap

DENVER - Governor Bill Ritter signed legislation on Tuesday creating a permanent Pay Equity Commission for the state. HB 1417 charges the commission with looking for ways to close the state's pay gap between working white men, and women and minorities who do comparable work. 

Nancy Reichman, a sociology and criminology professor at the University of Denver, served on a 2007 Pay Equity Commission that recommended making such a body permanent. She says closing the gap will not only help lift thousands of Colorado families out of poverty, but can also be good for the state economy.

"A state that's recognized for encouraging more fair workplaces is likely to encourage more of the best and brightest to come to our state and want to work in our state."

Reichman says one important function of the new commission will be to provide official data on the pay gap in Colorado.

"Employers have said to me, 'Oh, it's not true – in my firm, and we pay everybody the same.' And I say, 'Well, just go look and see if that's really true.' And it turns out in a particular case, it may not have been as true as they wanted it to be."

She says some critics worry the commission will create new mandates that could be bad for business, but in her view, it is just an entity that should help facilitate best practices.

"And can support doing the right thing, which is in everybody's interest."

In Colorado, women make, on average, at least 20 cents less for every dollar a white man earns at the same job. Appointments to the new commission will be split between the governor and the majority and minority leadership of the House and Senate. Appointments must be made within 60 days of the bill's signing.

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