BILL: Should We Fight Workplace Discrimination? - Paycheck Fairness Act - H.R.17
Tell your reps to support or oppose this bill
The Bill
H.R.17 - Paycheck Fairness Act
Bill Details
- Sponsored by Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) on March 10, 2023
- Committees: House - Education and the Workforce; Oversight and Accountability
- House: Not yet voted
- Senate: Not yet voted
- President: Not yet signed
Bill Overview
- The bill addresses sex and gender-based wage discrimination pertaining to pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.
- Strengthens the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and ensures women can challenge pay discrimination and hold employers accountable.
- The bill increases civil penalties for violations of equal pay provisions.
- Limits an employer's defense that a pay differential is based on a factor other than sex to only "bona fide" job-related factors in wage discrimination claims.
- Enhances nonretaliation prohibitions and makes it unlawful to require an employee to sign a contract or waiver prohibiting them from disclosing information about the employee's wages.
- The bill requires the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to train employees and other affected parties on wage discrimination.
What's in the Bill?
Targets the gender pay gap
- In the U.S., women still earn, on average, 77 cents for every dollar paid to men, resulting in a gap of $11,782 each year. The disparity is worse for women of color.
- Compared to every dollar a white man earns, Black women are paid 64 cents, Latina women are paid 54 cents, and Native American women are paid 51 cents.
Directs the Department of Labor to prioritize wage parity
- Directs the Department of Labor (DoL) to establish a grant program to provide training in negotiation skills related to compensation and equitable working conditions.
- Directs the DoL to conduct studies to eliminate pay disparities between men and women.
- Makes information on wage discrimination available to the public to aid in understanding and addressing this discrimination.
Makes it unlawful to prevent employees from discussing their wages
- Makes it easier for employees to discuss pay disparities.
Establishes the National Award for Pay Equity in the Workplace
- This award will be given to an employer who has made a substantial effort to eliminate pay disparities between men and women.
Establishes the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force
- The task force would address compliance, public education, and enforcement of equal pay laws.
- Requires the EEOC to establish regulations for collecting compensation and employment data on race, sex, and gender from employers.
What Supporters are Saying
- Rep. DeLauro, the sponsor of the bill, said:
"Men and women in the same job deserve the same pay. It is a simple concept that has eluded so many in our workforce for far too long. It is time that ends. We must enact the Paycheck Fairness Act to close the expanding pay gap and give women the necessary tools to dispute pay discrimination in their workplace."
- Rep. Patty Murray (D-Wa.), the co-sponsor of the bill, said:
"When we talk about the wage gap, we are ultimately talking about huge, life-changing amounts of pay that women are being cheated out of. Women are paying the price of inaction, and we have to put a stop to sexist pay practices—for good."
- Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-Va.) said:
"The gender wage gap is not only discriminatory, it undermines the financial stability of families and slows our economic growth. Despite current protections, inadequate remedies and limited enforcement tools have allowed gender-based wage discrimination to persist—leaving women, particularly women of color, without the pay they deserve."
What Opponents are Saying
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said:
"This legislation allows unlimited compensatory and punitive awards, even if there is no proof of intentional discrimination. It would significantly limit the ability and discretion of employers to consider reasonable business reasons for salary decisions and places burdensome wage reporting requirements on businesses. Addressing the gender pay gap and holding employers accountable for gender discrimination must remain a priority, but the so called Paycheck Fairness Act is not the answer."
Tell your reps to support or oppose this bill
—Emma Kansiz
(Photo Credit: Canva)
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I work in the tree industry. My boss has made me sign a nondisclosure document, which makes it hard to talk to coworkers. Through general sleuthing, I've found that some of my coworkers who work less days than me and do less climbing make just as much, maybe more than me. It's frustrating having this information and not being able to bring it up because of that document.
I and my family fully support H.R.17, Paycheck Fairness Act,
We must Fight Workplace Discrimination.
For decades I have Supported Equal Pay.
For decades, we have heard that women are, on the whole, not paid as much as men.
There are some valid alternative positions.
• Self-evaluation and self-worth are always problematic, very subjective. Over the years I have worked alongside imbeciles who have an absurdly high self-opinion of themselves. I have also seen people who know more and have more sense than both their manager and that manager's manager yet go unrecognized and also exploited, but remain humble, or had low self-esteem, or self-confidence.
• Unless you work in government or a company with a clear job and pay system with levels and sublevels you really only suspect, and you do not know whether or not your pay is commensurate with your coworkers who you believe are doing similar work. Yet sometimes it becomes very clear.
Still, regardless of the difficulties of implementation, I and my family fully support H.R.17, Paycheck Fairness Act.
All wages should have a "starting" wage regardless of sexual or ethnic orientation with raises given periodically according to performance. Only once in all my working years did I ever receive credit for what I did for another employee. Everyone else I had assisted never even gave me a "thank you". I understand the problems involved better than most so I support this bill.
Step in the right direction to update the Equal Pay Act (1963) and an outdated statute (417 U.S. 188, 195.) acknowledged in the 1973 Supreme Court case of Corning Glass Works v. Brennan that passed the House last session but not the Senate so is again being revisited which focuses on pay but not some of the other fundamentals of work like job assignments and opportunities used to justify pay inequity and not just negotiating skills called out in the act.
"Gender-based wage discrimination remains a pernicious problem in the workplace despite enactment over 50 years ago of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women in the same workplace who perform substantially equal work.
As the Supreme Court recognized in the 1973 case of Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, the Act was designed "to remedy what was perceived to be a serious and endemic problem of employment discrimination in private industry − the fact that the wage structure of many segments of American industry has been based on an ancient but outmoded belief that a man, because of his role in society, should be paid more than a woman even though his duties are the same." 417 U.S. 188, 195. Despite this country’s clear goal of eradicating wage discrimination, we have allowed the statute to become outdated, thereby limiting its effectiveness as a tool to remedy gender-based wage discrimination."
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/17
https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/priorities_policy/discrimination/the-paycheck-fairness-act/
I support equal pay for equal work. There should be no reason that all people doing the same job at an employer should be making roughly equivalent pay other than difference in education and seniority, and even then it should still be within a reasonable range.
Women, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and people of color should all be making roughly the same pay for the same work if we truly believe in equality and equity.
There is no reason why people should be recieving different levels of pay because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. I get that might be differences on the basis of how much experience they have, but even then men and women with roughly the same amount of experience should be getting a similar pay regardless of their gender. This bill could help to eliminate the wage gap and ensure men and women get paid more equally.
For sure this bill should be passed. From my point of view all discrimination in any form should be outlawed and those breaking these laws prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and that includes these idiots who won't provide services to individuals who have a different lifestyle than they do. If you're in a business that serves the public, you shouldn't have a choice of who you serve and if you don't want to serve all people, then stay the hell out of business.
Can we make it retro-active?