UPDATE
Please take this poll: Should the Fair Pay Act have been passed?
In a 56-42 Senate vote, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act did not advance. Women, minorities and disabled people still have only six months to report pay discrimination and file suit.
C’est la vie…
—
Tomorrow, the Senate will vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed by the house in July of 2007.
Democratic presidential candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may be flying in to Washington D.C. to vote in favor of the act.
According to the National Women’s Law Center, women only make 77 cents to every dollar men make. Let’s break that down.
The NWLC has a handy fact sheet ready to tell us just how much of a difference those 77 cents are make out to be when you consider salaries.
- High school educated men make an average $33,074 while women make $21, 609.
- Men with B.A. degrees made $55,425 to women’s $38,221.
- “The median annual earnings of women ages 15 and older working full-time, year-round were $32,515, compared to $42,261 for their male counterparts.”
- The worst state in the union is Louisiana where women make 66% of what men make.
In order to close the wage gap, the Lilly Ledbetter act proposes to:
- …require the EEOC to survey pay data already available and issue regulations within 18 months that require employers to submit any needed pay data identified by the race, sex, and national origin of employees. These data will enhance the EEOC’s ability to detect violations of law and improve its enforcement of the laws against pay discrimination.
- …establishe a competitive grant program to develop training programs for women and girls on how to negotiate better compensation packages, and directs the Secretaries of Labor and Education to integrate the programs developed into education and job training programs under their respective jurisdictions.
- …equalize wage disparities between jobs that are segregated on the basis of sex, race, or national origin, but require equivalent skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions.
- … provide punitive and compensatory damages to victims of wage discrimination. It also prohibits retaliation against individuals who exercise their rights under the law.
- …require all employers to keep records of the methods they use to set employee wages. Employers must also provide yearly reports to the EEOC that describe their workforce by position and salary as well as gender, race, and ethnicity.
To read more about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, click the following:
National Women’s Law Center: Fair Pay
Ledbetter v. Good Year Rubber Tire & Co.: Supreme court case that led to the Fair Pay Act. Basically, the decision was that employees have 180 days to report wage discrimination. Any time after that, they were not able to be compensated.
Joan Blades and Lilly Ledbetter comment on Huffingpost.com
Stay tuned tomorrow for the Senate’s decision!
