Creating the Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan Fair Pay Act
House Bill 2826 creates the “Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan Fair Pay Act,” a new article in West Virginia law focused on pay transparency and wage-history protections in hiring and the workplace. The bill would require employers, upon request, to provide applicants with the wage, benefits, and other compensation range for a position. It would also prohibit employers from refusing to interview, hire, or employ an applicant because the applicant did not disclose prior compensation history or asked for the pay range for the job.
The bill further limits when an employer may ask about or rely on an applicant’s wage history. After making an initial offer of employment, an employer may use or verify voluntarily provided wage history only to support a higher wage offer than the initial offer. The bill also protects employees’ rights to discuss, disclose, or inquire about wages and benefits, while barring employers from restricting those discussions or retaliating against employees for exercising those rights. It includes an exception preserving trade secret, proprietary, and privileged information, and it creates a private right of action for injured persons to seek damages, attorney fees, injunctive relief, and other equitable remedies.
If enacted, the bill would add a new wage-transparency and anti-retaliation framework to the West Virginia Code, affecting hiring practices, employee communications, and employer policies statewide. Employers would need to revise application forms, interview procedures, pay-setting practices, and workplace policies to comply with the restrictions on wage-history inquiries and employee pay discussions. The bill also gives affected individuals a civil cause of action, which could expose employers to litigation, damages, attorney fees, and court orders for violations.
The available context shows no committee debate, recorded votes, or amendments, so there is no documented split in the legislative record provided. Based on the bill text and title, the measure appears to be framed positively as a fair-pay and pay-equity initiative honoring Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. Its structure suggests support for wage transparency and employee rights, with the main policy emphasis on preventing pay discrimination and retaliation.
The main points of potential contention are likely to be the bill’s limits on employer wage-history inquiries and the new obligations to disclose pay ranges to applicants. Employers may view these requirements as burdensome or as limiting flexibility in compensation negotiations, while supporters would likely argue they are necessary to reduce pay discrimination and improve transparency. Another possible area of dispute is the private right of action and associated damages, attorney fees, and injunctive relief, which could be seen as strengthening enforcement but also increasing litigation risk for employers.