The Paycheck Fairness Act was defeated by the Senate on the afternoon of June 5. Earlier that day, I released the brief video above, and I asked Todd Young to join me in supporting this important legislation.
We must end gender and wage discrimination in the workplace. This should not be a partisan issue.
The Paycheck Fairness Act expands and brings up-to-date the “Equal Pay Act of 1963,” that was signed into law by President Johnson. The Equal Pay Act requires employers to give “equal pay for equal work” to men and women. The Paycheck Fairness Act would close loopholes in the original bill and create additional incentives to prevent pay discrimination. The House passed the bill in early 2009, but the Senate failed to move forward in 2010 – and again this week.
As your Congresswoman, I would advocate for working families everywhere by supporting this critical bill. Pay discrimination is unacceptable.
On average, American women continue to earn 77 cents for every dollar that men make or $10,784 less a year. In Indiana, the wage gap is even worse as women earn 72 cents for every dollar a man makes. Indiana ranks 47th in the nation in gender pay disparity.
The Paycheck Fairness Act, in addition to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, is crucial to ending gender and wage discrimination in the workplace. The Paycheck Fairness Act would allow those affected by wage discrimination to address the issue by allowing employees to disclose salary information with co-workers, regardless of current rules not allowing this disclosure. It would also provide resources to help women develop their negotiating skills and help to determine the causes of wage discrepancies between men and women.
