House Panel Wants Insurers to Put Pay Ranges in Job Descriptions

She said in her opening remarks that none of the insurance company CEOs who had been invited to speak at the hearing had agreed to do so.

“Let the record show that I am going to invite all 27 CEOs to meet on Zoom with me,” she said.

Witnesses

The list of witnesses included Eloiza Domingo, the chief diversity officer at Allstate; Kimberly Ross, a senior vice president at the American Council of Life Insurers; and Chlora Lindley-Myers, the Missouri insurance director and the president-elect of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Ross emphasized that the ACLI believes that providing life insurance is a way for its member companies to help American families and promote equity in society.

The ACLI has organized active diversity and equity programs, and it supports H.R. 1277, a bill introduced by Reps. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., that would require any company, including an insurer, that was registered as a securities issuer to put information about board diversity in its proxy statements, Ross said.

“Our commitment is deep and tangible, girded by our 175 years of protecting families,” Ross said.

Lindley-Myers talked about the work of the NAIC’s Special Committee on Race and Diversity, including the committee’s diversity and inclusion workstream. The workstream began asking for public comments on proposed diversity, equity and inclusion recommendations last week. Comments are due Oct. 13.

Pay Transparency

The House Financial Services diversity and inclusion subcommittee heard testimony about pay transparency proposals from Maya Raghu of the National Women’s Law Center at a hearing in April 2021.

“Eliminate pay secrecy policies and provide salary ranges,” Raghu said at the 2021 hearing. “Allowing employees to discuss pay without retaliation and providing more information to applicants about salary  ranges for jobs reduces the information asymmetry and helps  attract diverse talents, and numerous.”

H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act bill, would prohibit employers from punishing workers who talk to each other about their pay. The bill was introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. It has 222 Democratic co-sponsors and three Republican cosponsors.

In the new House Financial Services Committee report, staffers included the pay transparency section in a set of recommendations about increasing the effects of diversity and inclusion goals on actual workforce and procurement diversity.

“It is imperative that diversity and inclusion is integrated throughout the entire business function,” the staff said.

The staff did not give any details about how it thinks pay transparency should be implemented.

In addition to recommending that insurers put pay ranges in all job descriptions, the staff recommended that all staff performance reviews include diversity, equity and inclusion evaluations, and that the Federal Insurance Office, an arm of the U.S. Treasury Department, conduct a study analyzing attrition and retention of workers within the insurance industry.

Pictured: Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio. (Photo: House Financial Services Committee)