Fairfield County Business Journal 061515

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FAIRFIELD COUNTY

BUSINESS JOURNAL June 15, 2015 | VOL. 51, No. 24

20 | GOOD THINGS HAPPENING

15 | MEETINGS, CONVENTIONS

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS

westfaironline.com

You earn what? STATE MOVES TO LIFT VEIL OF WAGE SECRECY

BY DANIELLE BRODY dbrody@westfairinc.com

TRANSPARENT LIVING

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TO SOME, NEW LEGISLATION THAT allows employees to discuss wages in the workplace is a positive step toward reducing the gender wage gap. To others it’s an unnecessary mandate. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed the bill, which halts “pay secrecy” — a rule at some companies that prohibits workers from talking about their salaries. “It’s a practice that ultimately perpetuates income discrimination and allows the gender wage gap to persist,” Malloy said in a press release. “Women deserve the same pay for the same work — it’s that simple.” The legislation does not require employees or employers to disclose wages, but makes it illegal for companies to pun-

ish those who wish to do so. The bill was approved in the House of Representatives and in the Senate this month and awaits Malloy’s signature. Malloy created a Gender Wage Gap Task Force in 2013 that said more than 60 percent of employees in the private sector were either prohibited or discouraged from discussing pay with their colleagues, citing a 2011 report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The report also said full-time female workers earn an average 22 percent to 24 percent less than men. “Put another way, on average, a woman in Connecticut earns only 75.8 to 78 cents for every dollar a man earns,” the report said. The pay gap can narrow to about 5 percent to 10 percent

The Glass House in New Canaan, created by the late Philip Johnson. Photo by Danielle Brody

» WAGES, page 6

Stamford ups ‘2030’ reuse and resiliency push MAJOR PLAYERS SIGN ON TO GIRD FOR STORMS AND GO GREEN

BY BILL FALLON bfallon@westfairinc.com STAMFORD, THE CITY THAT WORKS, got a boost recently toward its plans to be the city that works in ways that are sustainable and sturdy. The national Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities and the New Haven-based Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation contributed $75,000 each — $150,000 — toward Stamford’s push to reduce water and energy use and to lower carbon emissions across a growing member base in its Stamford 2030 District, which dates to October. The award was one of eight issued nationally. The 2030 program also focuses on resiliency in the face of weather disasters, which have lost their abstractness regionally post-Superstorm Sandy.

Corporate representatives on hand included 2030 District advocates Henry A. Ashforth III, executive vice president of Stamford-based The Ashforth Co., and Andrea Pinabell, vice president for global sustainability and global citizenship for Stamford-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts. “Sustainability and resiliency are global issues,” said Ashforth, whose company is part of 2030’s “property owners and managers” cohort and who personally heads the city’s nearly 7-year-old Energy Improvement District. “We’re going to solve them locally. That’s what this partnership is all about.” Stamford Mayor David Martin hosted the event at the city’s Government Center on Washington Boulevard but quickly turned the meeting over to Megan Saunders, executive

Henry A. Ashforth III, executive vice president of The Ashforth Co. and head of Stamford’s Energy Improvement District. Photo by Bill Fallon » 2030, page 6


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