Underhill, Kristen, Rosen, Zohn, Bates, Lisa M., Manzi, Francesca 
ORCID: 0000-0002-6074-4680 and Litman, Leib
(2025)
Pay secrecy bans and the sharing of salary information among US workers.
Journal of Empirical Legal Studies.
ISSN 1740-1453
Abstract
Many states bar employers from requiring or expecting employees to keep pay secret, and from retaliating against employees who discuss pay. In a nationally representative survey of 2369 US adults in 2021, people living in states with state laws barring pay secrecy reported more supportive attitudes regarding information-sharing and less concern about offending co-workers by asking about salary, but little to no difference in information-sharing behavior, beliefs or accuracy regarding the laws. Men were consistently more supportive of information-sharing than women, but the gender differential did not differ between groups of states. We randomized participants in each set of states to learn the law of their jurisdiction. In states with pay secrecy bans, participants who learned about the law reported significantly greater comfort asking others and intentions to ask others about compensation, compared to those who were not given information about the law.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2025 Cornell Law School and Wiley Periodicals LLC |
| Divisions: | Management |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor K Law > K Law (General) |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Dec 2025 12:33 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Dec 2025 10:23 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/130665 |
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