Bills
| 3.23.22

Mind the Wage Gap: Strengthening the Equal Pay Act (H.R. 1619)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 1619?

(Updated May 11, 2021)

This bill would revise existing enforcement mechanisms to prevent wage discrimination based on gender. Exceptions in laws that prohibit wage differences between men and women would be limited to bona fide factors — like education, training, or experience.

Defenses based on bona fide factors can only apply if the employer demonstrates that the factor in question:

  • Is not based upon a gender-based differential for compensation;

  • Is job-related with respect to the position in question;

  • Is consistent with the needs of the business;

  • Accounts for the difference in compensation.

This defense would be inapplicable when the employee can demonstrate that an alternative employment practice exists that serves the same business purpose without leading to a pay difference and their employer refused to adopt that practice.

The prohibition against employer retaliation for complaints by employees would be revised to bar retaliation for inquiring about, discussing, or disclosing the wages of an employee in response to:

  • A complaint or accusation of gender discrimination;

  • An investigation, proceeding, hearing or other action;

  • An investigation conducted by the employer.

It would be illegal to require employees to sign a contract or waiver preventing them from disclosing information about their wages. Employers who violate gender discrimination rules  would be liable for a civil action for compensatory or punitive damages — although the federal government would be exempt from paying the punitive fines.

The Dept. of Labor would be authorized to seek additional compensatory or punitive damages in a gender discrimination action. All such actions could be pursued as class action suits without the written consent of individual plaintiffs. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Compliance Programs would have to train EEOC employees and affected individuals and entities involving wage discrimination.

EEOC would issue regulations related to collecting compensation data from employers to analyze data regarding the gender, race and national origin of employees for use in the enforcement of federal laws prohibiting pay discrimination.

Argument in favor

It's the 21st century — why in the world are women still being treated unequally to men, even when they perform the same job? The federal government needs to ensure that pay discrimination becomes a thing of the past by cracking down on those who maintain it.

Argument opposed

There are plenty of reasons that one employee might make more money than another — including education, experience, and training. Wage disparities are often the result of differences in people’s abilities, not gender discrimination.

Impact

Women in the workforce, anyone who suspects they have been subjected to pay discrimination based on their gender, businesses that are practice or have been accused of pay discrimination, and relevant federal agencies — especially the EEOC and Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Cost of H.R. 1619

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced this legislation to help close the wage gap between women and men who work the same jobs:

"Equal pay is not just a problem for women, but for families, who are trying to pay their bills, trying to get ahead, trying to achieve the American dream, and are getting a smaller paycheck than they have earned for their hard work. The Paycheck Fairness Act will help the Equal Pay Act fulfill its intended objective, offer real protections to ensure equal pay for equal work, and see that women are paid the same as the other half of our nation's workforce for the same job."

This bill is cosponsored by 193 lawmakers in the House, including 192 Democrats and one Republican in the House.


Of Note: In 2009, the Department of Labor requested the publication of a report detailing the causes of the wage disparity between men and women:

“This study leads to the unambiguous conclusion that the differences in the compensation of men and women are the result of a multitude of factors and that the raw wage gap should not be used as the basis to justify corrective action. Indeed, there may be nothing to correct. The differences in raw wages may be almost entirely the result of the individual choices made by both male and female workers.”

Claims that women make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men have been enthusiastically embraced by some and brushed aside as a statistical myth by others in pursuit of their respective policy goals. A deeper examination of the issue done by the American Association of University Women put the figure closer to 91 cents for every dollar men earn. Another analysis in Slate highlighted observations that such figures are an oversimplification of a complex issue, which discount personal choices made by male and female workers.

The Obama administration has emphasized that women be paid equally, but 2014 statistics showed that women were earning about 87 percent of what their male counterparts were in the White House. Things were no different in 2009, and the 13 percent wage gap between men and women in the Obama administration has persisted.

Media:

Summary by Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: Flickr user ironypoisoning)