Paycheck Fairness Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Paycheck Fairness Act.

The Equal Pay Act has been the law for more than half a century, but, in 2021, equal pay for equal work is still not a reality for many women, especially women of color. This is an injustice to millions of working families. Closing the wage gap is an economic imperative.

Last month, I was honored to chair the hearing on persistent gender- based wage discrimination. We heard witnesses describe the barriers to detecting wage discrimination and holding employers accountable. Most importantly, we heard how the Paycheck Fairness Act can address the problematic loopholes in the current law, empower workers to better detect and combat wage discrimination, and create mechanisms for better pay data transparency.

By advancing the Paycheck Fairness Act, we can restore the original intent of the Equal Pay Act and finally make equal pay for equal work a reality. I thank Congresswoman DeLauro for her steadfast leadership. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act from the American Association of University Women. AAUW, April 14, 2021.

Dear Representative: On behalf of the more than 170,000 members and supporters of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), I urge you to vote in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 7) and to oppose harmful amendments when the bill comes to the House floor this week. Despite federal and state equal pay laws, gender pay gaps persist. The Paycheck Fairness Act offers a much needed update to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by providing new tools to battle these pervasive pay gaps and to challenge discrimination.

The dual crises of a global pandemic and systemic racism have laid bare the economic disparities in our country. While we all struggle to survive, we are relying heavily on the work performed by essential workers who are disproportionately Black and brown women. Yet their work has long been and continues to be undervalued and underpaid. At the same time, in 2020, American women lost more than 5 million jobs. Women accounted for 100% of the jobs lost last December--all 140,000 of them--and women of color made up an overwhelming share of those jobs. This massive job loss coupled with the consistent undervaluing of women's work compounds over time and results in significant lost earnings. As a result, women do not have a financial cushion to help weather the current economic crisis or the ability to build wealth, all of which contribute to racial and gender wealth gaps that create barriers to families' economic prosperity. We cannot build back our economy without immediately addressing these realities. And women and their families cannot afford to wait any longer for change.

To appropriately respond to the crises we are currently experiencing we must make real, concrete progress in ensuring all women receive fair pay. While the gap has narrowed since passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, progress has largely stalled in recent years. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau once again revealed that women working full-time, year-round are typically paid only 82 cents for every dollar paid to men. The pay gaps are even wider for women of color. Black women and Latinas make, respectively, 63 and 55 cents on the dollar as compared to non-Hispanic, white men. Action is required now: at the current rate, the overall pay gap between men's and women's earnings will not close until 2093 and it will take significantly longer for women of color to reach parity.

Research indicates that the gender pay gap develops very early in women's careers. Controlling for factors known to affect earnings, such as education and training, marital status, and hours worked, research finds that college- educated women still earn 7 percent less than men just one year out of college. Over time, the gap compounds and widens, impacting women's social security and retirement. Ensuring that women have equal pay would have a dramatic impact on families and the economy. According to a report from the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR), the poverty rate for all working women would be cut in half, falling from 8.0 percent to 3.8 percent if women were paid the same as comparable men. The same study indicates that the U.S. economy would have produced an additional $512.6 billion in income if women had received equal pay for equal work. This is why I urge you to pass this important bill.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 to ensure that it provides effective protection against sex-based pay discrimination in today's workplace.

The bill takes several important steps, including:

Guaranteeing Non-Retaliation: The bill prohibits retaliation against workers for discussing or disclosing wages. Without the non-retaliation provisions of the Paycheck Fairness Act, many women will continue to be silenced in the workplace--that is, prohibited from talking about wages with coworkers without the fear of being fired. This is an issue that keeps women--like it kept Lilly Ledbetter--from learning of the pay discrimination against them.

Prohibiting Reliance on Prior Salary History: The bill prohibits employers from relying on salary history in determining future pay, so that prior discrimination doesn't follow workers from job to job.

Requiring Job-Relatedness: The bill closes loopholes that allow employers to pay women less than men for the same work without a business necessity that is related to the job.

Equalizing Remedies: The bill ensures women can receive the same robust remedies for sex-based pay discrimination that are currently available to those subjected to discrimination based on race and ethnicity.

Providing Additional Assistance and Resources: The bill also provides technical assistance to businesses, requires wage data collection, and supports salary negotiation skills training programs to give women the tools to advocate for higher wages.

The pay gap is persistent and can only be addressed if women are armed with the tools necessary to challenge discrimination against them, and employers are provided with effective incentives and technical assistance to comply with the law. I urge you to take a critical step towards pay equity by voting in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 7) and opposing harmful amendments when the bill comes to the House floor this week.

Cosponsorship and votes associated with this bill may be scored in the AAUW Action Fund Congressional Voting Record for the 117th Congress. Sincerely, Kate Nielson, Senior Director of Public Policy, Legal Advocacy & Research.

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