Maine Women's Lobby
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Paycheck Fairness Act
Equal Pay Day 2011: 4 Recommendations for Action
Paycheck Fairness Act
The U.S. Senate must act to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182), a bill that will strengthen the Equal Pay Act and provide the government with additional tools to enhance enforcement of equal pay laws.
More than 45 years ago, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, requiring employers to provide equal pay to women and men for equal work. Despite the law, the wage gap persists. Today, women in Maine make, on average, just 79 cents for every dollar earned by a man. Nationally women earn 77 cents and it is important to recognize that the wage gap is even wider for women of color. African American women on average only earned 68.9 percent for every dollar earned by a white male per week, and Hispanic/Latina women only 60.2 cents!
The Paycheck Fairness Act would help eliminate this wage gap by:
* Prohibiting employer retaliation. The Paycheck Fairness Act prohibits employers from punishing employees who share salary information.
* Improving compensation for victims by bringing Equal Pay Act remedies in line with those available to plaintiffs in other discrimination claims.
* Creating a negotiation training program for women and girls.
* Providing assistance to all businesses and recognizing employers for excellence.
* Closing loopholes by requiring employers to defend gender pay disparities by showing that differences exist for legitimate job-related reasons.
* Improving data collection by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Paycheck Fairness Act requires them to survey already-available salary data.
* Bolstering enforcement and data collection of gender-based data.
This bill passed the House in January 2009 but has not yet received a vote in the Senate. Urge your Senators to support this important legislation!
Follow this link to send letters to Snowe and Collins in support of this important legislation.
Need a bit of inspiration?Check out this video of Chellie Pingree on Equal Pay Day:
