A federal judge has ordered the government to restore an Obama-era rule that requires larger companies to report workers' pay data broken down by gender and race, Reuters has reported.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C. ruled the White House Office of Management and Budget failed to show any cause, as required, for blocking the rule from taking effect in 2017 and its decision was "arbitrary and capricious."
The OMB had approved the change under the Obama administration a year earlier but then the same office then blocked it once President Donald Trump entered the White House.
The National Women's Law Center, which sued two years ago to revive the rule, said the decision affects more than 60,000 companies and 63 million workers.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country's biggest business lobby, said the rule would be costly to businesses, and, in any case, pay data without more context is meaningless.
They also said additional problems would be caused by the change, because publicizing the information would invite lawsuits and comparisons of workers in different jobs and with varying qualifications.
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