A Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee hearing on pay equity, scheduled for Thursday, March 11, may revive discussion of the stalled Paycheck Fairness Act.
The Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182; H.R. 11) was sponsored before the Senate in January 2009 by then-Senator Hillary Clinton and Representative Rosa DeLauro. Representative DeLauro will appear as a witness before the HELP Committee during the first panel of Thursday’s hearing.
The Paycheck Fairness Act, which passed the House in July 2008, would expand damages under the Equal Pay Act (EPA), allowing prevailing employees to recover compensatory and punitive damages for gender-based pay discrimination. The Act would also amend the Equal Pay Act to prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information with their coworkers.
The Paycheck Fairness Act would also tighten the requirements for employers’ “affirmative defense” to gender-based pay discrimination. Currently, an employer may assert an affirmative defense that there is a pay differential between female and male employees for equal work but that the differential is based on a factor other than sex. The Act would require the employer to prove that the differential is truly caused by something other than sex and that it is related to job performance.
HR Guide to Employment Law: A practical compliance reference manual covering 14 topics, including discrimination