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U.S. Sen. Harkin: Continues fights for pay equity; reintroduces Fair Pay Act
4/28/2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 28, 2009

Contact: Harkin Press Office

202-224-3254 or 202-224-5698

HARKIN CONTINUES FIGHTS FOR PAY EQUITY; REINTRODUCES FAIR PAY ACT

Washington, D.C. - Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today introduced the Fair Pay Act of 2009 to address the wage gap for jobs of equal value among men and women. This legislation would address the historic pattern of undervaluing and underpaying so-called "women's" jobs, by calling for similar wages for similar working conditions regardless of gender.

“In this day in age, there is no such thing as ‘women’s work’ or ‘men’s work,” said Harkin. “In nearly 10 million American households, the mother is the only breadwinner. These families have the same struggles to pay the rent or make mortgage payments, buy the groceries, cover the medical bills and save for a child's education. In these tough economic times, we need to simply make sure an honest day’s work is rewarded. We must end wage discrimination and on Equal Pay Day, we can start by closing the pay gap and simply paying women fairly.”

More than 40 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act, women's wages still lag behind their male counterparts' wages - women make only 78 cents for every dollar that a man makes. The average woman loses an estimated $700,000 over her lifetime due to unequal pay practices. These wages are more disproportionate for minority women. The average African-American woman earns 69 cents for every dollar that a white male earns and Latino women receive only 59 cents per dollar earned by white men.

The Fair Pay Act of 2009 would:

· Amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to prohibit discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex, race or national origin.

· Require employers to provide equal pay for jobs that are comparable in skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.

· Apply to each company individually and prohibit companies from reducing other employees' wages to achieve pay equity.

· Require public disclosure of employer job categories and their pay scales, without requiring specific information on individual employees.

· Allow payment of different wages under a seniority system, merit system, or system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production.

· Allow employees who allege discrimination in wage-setting based on sex, race or national origin to either file a complaint with the EEOC or go to court.

Right now, women who suspect pay discrimination must file a lawsuit and go into a drawn out legal discovery process to find out whether they make less than the man beside them. With pay statistics readily available, this expensive process could be avoided. The number of lawsuits would surely go down if employees could see up front that they were being treated fairly.

“I once asked Lilly Ledbetter at a hearing if this bill had been law, would it have prevented her wage discrimination case? Would she have had the information about pay scales and known she was being discriminated against? She said that it would,” continued Harkin. “Lily Ledbetter helped us to end pay discrimination, I hope she can now inspire us to close the wage gap.”

The following Senators co-sponsored the Fair Pay Act of 2009: Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), John Kerry (D-MA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Jeff Merkely (D-OR).

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