Despite a number of laws that have been passed over the years to address pay inequality, women still earn less than their male counterparts for the same work. The Paycheck Fairness Act, passed in the U.S. House this month, is the latest effort to correct this imbalance.
Some provisions in the act would require employers to submit compensation and other employment data to the federal government; make it illegal to prohibit employees from discussing their pay with co-workers; and it would require the government to provide grants for negotiation skills training that includes women and girls.
“Salary secrecy perpetuates the pay gap and keeps professionals and hard-working leaders from staying abreast on their market value,” says Skyler McCurine, a pay negotiation coach with Le Red Balloon, her consulting business in San Diego. “It’s a form of data that deeply informs what are fair salary and compensation packages to expect for someone’s contributions and experience levels. It’s one of the reasons why teammates doing the same work can have drastic pay gaps.”
Noreen Farrell is the executive director of Equal Rights Advocates, a civil rights organization focused on gender justice in schools and the workplace, working with their partners to achieve law reform in pay inequity, harassment, family leave and other barriers to equality. She took some time to share her perspective on the Paycheck Fairness Act and why there’s still so much to do to obtain pay equity for women. (This email interview has been edited for length and clarity. )
Q: We have the Equal Pay Act of 1963, making it illegal for employers to pay women less money for performing the same jobs and tasks as their male colleagues; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sex (and used in wage discrimination cases); the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, reversing a Supreme Court decision that upheld a short statute of limitations for wage discrimination claims; and more recently, the Paycheck Fairness Act, serving as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, to further address wage discrimination on the basis of sex. Why do we need the Paycheck Fairness Act? What do supporters hope it will do, that these other pieces of legislation haven’t been able to accomplish?
A: Almost 60 years after the passage of seminal workplace equity laws, women are still losing hundreds of thousands of dollars each year due to the gender and race pay gap. Pay discrimination exists in nearly every field, and women remain dramatically overrepresented in the lowest paid industries. The Paycheck Fairness Act will close gaps in current law stalling the promise of pay equity, especially for women of color. Because pay secrecy hides pay disparities, the legislation protects employees against retaliation for discussing salaries with colleagues. The legislation also prohibits employers from asking about, or relying on, a person’s prior salary history in setting initial pay, so that discriminatory past wages do not negatively impact future earnings. It allows workers to participate in class action lawsuits to challenge systemic pay discrimination and improves Equal Pay Act remedies. The Paycheck Fairness Act also requires that employers prove that wage differentials are based on factors other than sex that are job-related. Our organization was able to work closely with the business community in California to ensure a similar bill passed at the state level in 2015.
Q: One of the requirements of the Paycheck Fairness Act is that employers submit detailed pay information to the federal government. Why does this matter? What difference will this reporting make?
A: Working women can’t end pay discrimination on their own — and they shouldn’t have to. The Paycheck Fairness Act ensures that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Department of Labor will continue to have the tools they need to effectively enforce laws against pay discrimination by requiring the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to collect compensation and other employment-related data from employers, as analyzed by race, sex, and national origin of employees. We can’t fix what we can’t see. Most employers agree and voluntarily collect such data for internal audits.
Q: U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that “Democrats aren’t giving the full story when they talk about pay differences. Women are making career choices that are best for themselves and their families.” What’s your response to this argument that women are making employment decisions that may trade equal pay, for a job offering greater flexibility to balance work and home life, rendering something like the Paycheck Fairness Act as unnecessary and possibly unhelpful?
A: She is right about one thing: Women are trying to make career choices that are best for them and their families. But no one ever chooses to be paid less. The fact is, a gender pay gap exists in every occupational category, even after accounting for differences in education, skill and work choices. Dismissing the gender wage gap as merely a reflection of women’s choices ignores the gap’s underlying causes. Discriminatory attitudes can lead to women being pushed out of fields with higher wages or lead to them being underpaid in both high- and low-wage jobs. The lack of strong, work-family policies also contributes to pay disparities because women are frequently expected to handle much of their family’s caregiving needs, and therefore end up spending more time than men out of the office to shoulder those responsibilities. Mothers, for example, are often pushed out of the workforce because of the absence of comprehensive paid leave policies and affordable caregiving options. Research shows that providing paid family and medical leave policies allows mothers to return to work more quickly after childbirth, work longer hours if desired, and be more productive — all of which can help narrow the wage gap. Rather than dismiss the wage gap as a product of women’s choices, policymakers should pursue comprehensive solutions, such as paid family and medical leave, earned sick days, affordable childcare, and fair scheduling that can address the gap’s underlying causes.
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April 25, 2021 at 08:00PM
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New pay equity legislation needed to help close gender pay gap - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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