The Paycheck Fairness Act: A Victory in Closing the Wage Gap

This is Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. I have had the honor of serving the people of the Third Congressional District of Connecticut for the past 18 years.

In the coming months I hope to engage in conversations with you about issues facing our country and what we are doing in Washington to help improve our country. Before I talk about the Paycheck Fairness Act, I just want to say that I have been blessed to serve the Third Congressional District for the past 18 years. I appreciate your continued support and do not take your support lightly.

For more than a decade, I have been fighting to ensure that women receive equal pay from their employers. When President Kennedy's Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1963, Women were earning 59 cents for every dollar earned by a man. To this day women are still just earning 77 cents per dollar earned by a man. This wage disparity between men and women costs women anywhere from $400,000 to $2 million over a lifetime.

By now all of you in the blogosphere are familiar with the case of Lilly Ledbetter, -- the woman whose pay discrimination case against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company went all the way to the Supreme Court. The Roberts Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that Ms. Ledbetter needed to file a complaint within 180 days of her first pay discrepancy to be awarded damages.

In Ms. Ledbetter's testimony before the Education and Labor Committee she said, "Goodyear acknowledged that it was paying me a lot less than the men doing the same work... So, I was actually earning twenty-percent less than the lowest paid male supervisor in the same position... What happened to me is not only an insult to my dignity, but it had real consequences for my ability to care for my family. Every paycheck I received, I got less than what I was entitled under the law."

The Ledbetter case highlighted the loopholes in the current law and the need to close them. On Thursday July 31st, the House of Representatives took the next step to correct this injustice by passing H.R. 1338, the Paycheck Fairness Act by a vote of 247-178. This vote was about ensuring that women who work hard and productively and carry a full range of family responsibilities are paid at a rate they are entitled. So many employers and companies do the right thing as a matter of course, but passing this bill says that this is now a matter of right and wrong, that discrimination is unacceptable anywhere and we are all diminished when we fall short. We have the chance to make all men and women whole and contribute to the richness of America.

Of my 18 years in Congress, this was one of the most rewarding victories I have experienced in this remarkable institution. With your help in electing Barack Obama as our next President, I hope to enjoy many more days like we did when we passed the Paycheck Fairness Act in the years ahead.

For more information on me and my positions, feel free to visit my website www.rosadelauro.com. I look forward to talking with you more in the coming months.

Comments

[Halsey]

Rep DeLauro,

Thank you for getting this back front and center.. I am a single woman, a "boomer" age bracket..NO Children..NO husband (all by choice)...what this means is...I have the ability to put in the hours needed.. I recently found out...that I make $25,000 LESS than a younger man with MUCH less experience.. this is a HUGE amount. I also know that I have been more "successful"..in what we both do (brining in assets..number of clients, etc)...in just 3 months...and this younger man (I don't blame him..not a bit..!)...doesn't even thing he wants this "job"...yet..it is my "calling" so to speak.

I brought this up to my manager...and got the ice stare...and harsh language about "maybe he brought more to the table".. well..he didn't..and admits this. I in no way want to get this young man in trouble..as of COURSE he is not the problem.. I work for a HUGE corporation..with more layers of bureaucracy that one can imagine. I don't like frivilous lawsuits...but feel so "wronged"..

this happend to me me 25 years ago..when a similar company paid the 2 male trainees $250 more a month than me...today...just add some zeros... nothing has changed...not for me anyway...any advice?

[jrockbg]

Threaten to quit. Threaten to quit and tell them why. Then be willing to follow up on that threat. Then sue if you feel thatt gender is even a partial cause for your lower compensation. If your case seems remotely viable, there will be lawyers out there willing to take on the case and only get paid if you win.

They now know YOU know you are being under compensated. If you stay you look weak. And if you won't defend your own rights to fair compensation perhaps you might let the company down in a similar act of weakness.

[jrockbg]

I really have no position on this legislation. But I do wonder about the stats that show women earn less than men. Does it consider women's personal choices?

Men are more adept at doing hard physical labor. There are higher risk, higher pay jobs in my field (nuclear power) that many women would not really care to do.

Does it consider that women are less likely to negotiate or ask for a raise? Dateline did a piece years back showing that women were much less likely to ask for a raise than a man. They theorized that men are more assertive in nature. Also women's nesting instincts are greater than men's so they are less likely to leave a job if they ask for a raise and don't get it.

A good quality in an executive is knowing what you're worth. Many superiors actually want people to ask for raises so they can give them more responsibility. It also shows signs of strength if someone is willing to demand to be paid what they're worth. These are much sought out qualities in corporations.

Of course a woman is equally capable to a man in every respect except physical strength. Hillary, while I cannot stand her politically, is an extremely effective executive and legislator. I doubt she'd be a bad president. But not every woman is Hillary. And that should be okay too.

[SamThornton]

Equal pay for equal work is a commendable goal, however, it treats only one symptom of a basic inequity in the relationship between employers and employees in our country. The Draconian labor laws on the books victimize employees and make it nearly impossible for them to realize their fair share of the value they create with their work. What's really needed is a drastic reform our our labor laws, beginning with repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, which President Truman, over whose veto it was passed, correctly impugned as a "slave labor act."

One of the great ironies of American government is that, while we encourage trade union movements in countries we wish to destabilize, in our own country our government spares no effort to suppress the efforts of working men and women to achieve some kind of fair balance between the profits of corporations and the wages paid to its workers. Until that balance is enshrined in law, we will remain a nation of slave laborers and wealthy elites.

[jsarets]

It's been 140 years since the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, guaranteeing American women and men (among all other distinctions within American society) equal protection under the law.

Pay inequity is not a matter of not having the right legislation, it's a matter of existing laws not being enforced consistently. Come to think of it, a great deal, if not the majority, of our problems are the the result of either lack of enforcement or legislative contradictions.

We've long since abolished gender bias in our laws. Now it's time for us to abolish it in our hearts and minds. Failing that, there is no political solution to pay inequity.

P.S. Short people get paid less than tall people. Sounds like a good excuse for a press conference on the Hill...

[betterthannader]

does this law do anything about the statute of limitations rule the supreme court created with its Ledbetter decision? this piece isn't specific about how/if this new law addresses that, but the supreme court didn't say it was ok she was getting paid less, they said it was too late for her to get redress or justice.

[soonerdru]

Of note regarding the issue: Didn't Sen. McCain pronounce a few months ago that he was NOT in support of equal pay? I believe there's a quote indicating he was against it. So ladies, are you in favor of a president who does not feel you are entitled to equality in the workplace?

[dexxjones]

great post.

how about a paycheck fairness act which says that the ceo of a company can never be compensated in ANY WAY more than a set factor of the lowest employee of the company. no idea what that factor should be, but wouldnt it be fun to watch the wingnut noise machine spin off its axis at the suggestion?

[schatsie]

I remember in the 70s reading that women were getting 70 cents on the dollar compared to men...

Who Says WE'VE Come a long way baby????