Pay Equity

The Equal Pay Act that was signed into law June 10, 1963, was an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act to “prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages by employers.” Yet still today, women in the U.S that have full time jobs are paid only $.80 for every $1.00 paid to men. Pay Equity still eludes us.

So why the discrepancy despite the amendment? Many would say it is all a game of politics. The Paycheck Fairness Act is a bill that would make it easier for women to fight wage discrimination, keep businesses from punishing employees for talking about their pay, and make sure victims of wage discrimination are compensated. The Fair Pay Act is an extension of the Equal Pay Act which is limited to sex-based discrimination in the same job. The Fair Pay Act prohibits wage discrimination based on sex, race, or national origin for employees in equivalent jobs. The Paycheck Fairness Act and Fair Pay Act have been introduced to no avail.

In 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. This states that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination starts over with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. President Obama also created new equal-pay rules which required companies with 100 employees or more to disclose pay data broken down by race and gender to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Although the Trump administration attempted to freeze the rule in 2017, it was reinstated in 2019.

According to a 2014 report, in the Federal government, where salary information is public and pay scales are highly structured, the gender pay gap for white-collar workers shrunk from 30% in 1992 to 13% in 2012. 

Although many different attempts have been made, racial and gender pay gaps continue to exist in the United States. As we move forward as a country, we can only hope to close the gap.