The Paycheck Fairness Act is a high-profile piece of legislation that breezed through the House 256 to 163 this past January. Today, senators are gathering up proponents including Democrats and Republicans alike to see it through the Senate.

Background

Forty-six years ago the Equal Pay Act was added to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the first federal law to outlaw child labor and impose a national minimum wage. The Equal Pay Act amendment coined the phrase “equal pay for equal work”, in effect abolishing wage differentials on the basis on gender.

However, today in the United States women earn 78 cents for every dollar earned by male counterparts. Many members of Congress feel that these numbers mandate an increased protection against employment discrimination.

In the Courts

Equal pay received national attention when it traveled to the Supreme Court in 2007 in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Lily Ledbetter was an employee of the Goodyear Tire company. After discovering she had been paid a significantly smaller salary than that of her male counterparts upon retirement she sued under the Equal Pay Act.

The Supreme Court held that the Equal Pay Act had a 180-day statute of limitations for paycheck discrimination, and therefore Ms. Ledbetter could not sue for a career of inequity.

This ruling was overturned by an act of Congress entitled the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, amending the Equal Pay Act and allowing each new paycheck to be considered for employment discrimination. President Obama signed this bill into law on January 29, 2009.

The Paycheck Fairness Act

Although the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act opens doors from victims of discrimination in the courts, members of Congress feel that more must be done to ensure the enforcement and effectiveness of discrimination laws. To summarize, the Paycheck Fairness Act serves to:

• Require that employers be able to prove that any disparities in pay between male and female employees are job-related
• Prohibit employer retaliation against employees who inquire about, discuss, or disclose their own wage or that of another employee
• Increase penalties against a discriminatory employer including compensation of legal fees and liability for punitive damages against an employee
• Issue grant money for salary negotiation skills training for girls and women
• Require the Department of Labor to conduct and publicize ongoing research into the elimination of pay disparities
• Direct the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to issue business regulations for the enforcement of anti-discrimination laws

In Congress

To tighten anti-discrimination policy, Representative Rosa DeLaura (D-CT) introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act in the House along with 198 co-sponsors. A popular bill, it received the support of House Republicans including Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Chris Smith (R-NJ). The bill passed the House on January 9, 2009 but has yet to be voted on by the Senate.

On the Senate side, supporters are gearing up to push the bill through to the president. On Tuesday, June 16th, Senators Mikulski (D-MD) and Dodd (D-CT) wrote a letter to colleagues, requesting support on the legislation.

About the new bill Senator Mikulski wrote, “The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was necessary to keep the courthouse door open for victims of pay discrimination, but we need the Paycheck Fairness Act to stop discrimination from happening in the workplace in the first place. By giving new teeth and a much-needed update to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, this bill will help empower women to negotiate for equal pay, create strong incentives for employers to obey the law, and strengthen enforcement efforts”.

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