Paycheck Fairness Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, we all agree that every American should be compensated for the quality of their work and not face discrimination in the workplace based on race, color, national origin, religion, or sex.
That is why Congress passed the Equal Pay Act in 1963 and broader nondiscrimination laws under title VII of the Civil Rights Act the following year.
However, unlike those bills, H.R. 7 offers no new protections. It is simply a messaging bill to score political points.
What will the bill actually do? For job creators, they can expect more lawsuits and more regulatory burdens.
While limiting legal options for women by changing EPA class action lawsuits from an opt-in system to a mandatory opt-out system, H.R. 7 allows trial lawyers to pursue unlimited compensatory damages, making it nearly impossible for employers to defend against frivolous lawsuits.
Additionally, it requires employers to make intrusive data disclosures to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding the sex, race, and national origin of employees and, for the first time, the hiring, termination, and promotion data of those employees, ultimately posing a threat to workers' privacy.
The compliance costs to satisfy these requirements can total more than $600 million a year. We have already seen a number of small businesses forced to close this year because of COVID lockdowns, and now my Democratic colleagues want to impose more regulatory burdens on businesses that were lucky enough to survive.
Thankfully, my colleague from New York, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, has a solution that will actually address pay discrimination and support women in the workplace. The Wage Equity Act protects workers' privacy by encouraging voluntary pay analysis while bolstering women's employment through the creation of a grant program for women in college or career and technical programs to provide negotiation skills education.
I urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 7 and work with Republicans on meaningful legislation to ensure all workers have the opportunity and wages they deserve.
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