Harkin Fights for Pay Equity
Introduces the Fair Pay Act on Equal Pay Day
April 19, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Allison Dobson/ Maureen Knightly

Washington, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today introduced the Fair Pay Act of 2005 to address the wage gap for jobs of equal value. 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 76 cents for every dollar that a man makes. This legislation would address the historic pattern of undervaluing and underpaying so-called “women’s” jobs. For example, social workers (a female-dominated field) are paid less than probation officers (a male-dominated field) even though both jobs require similar levels of skill, effort, and responsibility. The Fair Pay Act says that where working conditions are similar, wages should also be similar.

“In nearly 10 million American households, the mother is the only breadwinner. These families struggle to pay the rent or make mortgage payments, buy the groceries, cover the medical bills and save for a child’s education,” Harkin said. “We simply must do something about the longtime pattern of wage discrimination. We can start closing the pay gap right now by simply paying women what they're worth.”

The average woman loses an estimated $500,000 over her lifetime due to unequal pay practices. The average African-American woman earns 66 cents for every dollar that a white male earns and Latino women only 55 cents per dollar earned by white men. On April 19th, four days after tax returns for 2004 are due, U.S. women will finally reach the earnings mark that their male counterparts achieved by December 31st of last year.

The Fair Pay Act of 2005 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. The Fair Pay Act would apply to each company individually and would 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.

Harkin also co-sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act which would take critical steps to empower women to negotiate for equal pay, create strong incentives for employers to obey current laws, and strengthen federal outreach and enforcement efforts.

The following Senators co-sponsored the Fair Pay Act of 2005: Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Russell Feingold (D-WI), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), John Kerry (D-MA) Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), and Patty Murray (D-WA).

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