Congressman Visclosky issued the following statement on Equal Pay Day 2013, a national day to highlight the wage gap that still exists between women and men in the United States. Visclosky said that Equal Pay Day is a reminder that legislators must work together to secure equal pay for American women.
“We must ensure that an honest day’s work results in an honest day’s pay by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act,” Congressman Visclosky said. “This legislation would provide new protections for women who suspect that they are the victims of wage discrimination and hold those employers who violate the law accountable for their actions. It is a commonsense piece of legislation, and it deserves a vote,” Visclosky said.
The Paycheck Fairness Act is supported by the National Partnership for Women and Families, National Organization for Women, Coalition of Labor Union Women, AFL-CIO, SEIU, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and YWCA USA, among a number of nationwide organizations.
Overview of Key Provisions of the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 377; S. 84)
For employees, the Paycheck Fairness Act would:
· Protect employees who voluntarily share their own salary information at work from retaliation by an employer.
· Remove an inequality in wage discrimination law so remedies available to plaintiffs in Equal Pay Act claims would be the same as damages available to plaintiffs who file wage discrimination claims under other laws, such as for race-based wage discrimination.
· Remove obstacles in the Equal Pay Act to facilitate plaintiffs’ participation in class action lawsuits that challenge systemic pay discrimination, by making the requirements for class action lawsuits under the Equal Pay Act match those of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
· Better align key Equal Pay Act defenses with those in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, requiring employers to prove that pay disparities exist for legitimate, job-related reasons.
· Create a negotiations skills training program for women and girls.
For employers, the Paycheck Fairness Act would:
· Recognize excellence in pay practices.
· Provide assistance to all businesses to help them with their equal pay practices.
For enforcement agencies, the Paycheck Fairness Act would:
· Instruct the Department of Labor to conduct studies and review available research and data to provide information on how to identify, correct and eliminate illegal wage disparities.
· Direct the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to reinstate a survey, discontinued under the Bush Administration in 2006, of available wage information to assist federal agencies in enforcing wage discrimination laws and creating a system to collect wage data.