[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 20, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2470-S2471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             EQUAL PAY DAY

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today is Equal Pay Day: After 16 months of 
work, professional women today will finally have earned what their male 
counterparts earned in just 12 months of work last year. It is shameful 
that gender discrimination still exists in our country, and I hope 
today will serve as an important reminder that we must redouble our 
efforts to fully close the wage gap.
  Forty-six years have passed since the Equal Pay Act was enacted, yet 
the disparity between women's and men's salaries stubbornly remains. 
Congress passed title VII of the Civil Rights Act to protect employees 
against discrimination with respect to compensation because of an 
individual's race, color, religion, sex or national origin. 
Unfortunately, a narrow ruling by the Supreme Court in 2008 meant that 
those who are subject to pay discrimination have no claim to remedies 
unless a suit is filed no more than 180 days after the pay 
discrimination first takes place, even if they were unaware of the 
discriminatory pay. This ruling eroded longstanding interpretation of 
discrimination laws and created a new obstacle for victims of pay 
discrimination to receive justice.
  Last year, the new Congress achieved what could not be done before: 
We enacted the ``Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act'', which I was proud to 
cosponsor with Senators Mikulski, Kennedy and others. This bill 
restored victim's ability to file suit for pay discrimination and 
became the first bill President Obama signed into law. Lilly Ledbetter, 
the courageous woman who was the subject of decades of pay 
discrimination, continues to fight to ensure other women do not 
experience the same wage disparity she did for so many years. Lilly 
visited Vermont last fall as the keynote speaker at the Women's 
Economic Conference I host every year. Vermonters who attended that 
conference have written me and stopped me in the street to tell me how 
much her story meant to them. I hope Lilly continues to speak to 
inspire thousands more women to pursue pay equity.
  The ``Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act'' was an important first step in 
supporting equal pay for equal work, but our efforts must not stop 
there. Today, women are still paid just 77 cents on average for every 
dollar a man makes. Over the course of a womans career, the pay gap 
will mean between $400,000 and $2 million in lost wages. Eight years 
ago Vermont acted to pass an equal pay act, which prohibits paying 
female or male workers differently for equal work that requires equal 
skill, effort, and responsibility under similar working conditions. Now 
in Vermont, employers cannot require wage nondisclosure agreements and 
employees are protected from retaliation for disclosing their own wage. 
As a result, Vermont leads the country in having one of the narrowest 
wage gaps between women and men. Today, in celebration of Equal Pay 
Day, Vermont's Business & Professional Women and the Vermont Commission 
on Women will join their member organizations at the Vermont State 
House for a proclamation signing and discussion of important issues 
relative to women.
  Two bills awaiting action in the Senate include provisions similar to 
those enacted in Vermont. The ``Paycheck Fairness Act'', originally 
introduced by Senator Clinton, of which I am an original cosponsor, 
creates stronger incentives for employers to follow the law, 
strengthens penalties for equal pay violations, and prohibits 
retaliation against workers for disclosing their own wage information. 
This bill passed the House with bipartisan support more than a year ago 
and deserves action in the Senate. The ``Fair Pay Act'', introduced by 
Senator Harkin--another bill that I cosponsor--requires employers to 
pay equally for jobs of comparable skill, efforts and working 
conditions and requires employers to disclose pay scales and rates for 
all job categories at a given company. To effectively close the wage 
gap we must address the systemic problems that are resulting in pay 
disparities. I believe both these bills are essential steps to closing 
the wage gap.
  This is not a Democratic or Republican issue but an issue of inherent 
fairness. Sadly, wage discrimination affects women of every generation 
and every socioeconomic background and is not limited to one career 
path or level of education. We should pass the ``Paycheck Fairness 
Act'' and the ``Fair Pay Act'' and work toward other solutions to 
ensure our daughters and granddaughters are not subject to the same 
discrimination that has burdened American women for decades.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to bring attention to Equal 
Pay Day. It is today, April 20, that represents how long women had to 
work into 2010 to earn what men made in 2009. It is an unfortunate 
occasion.
  Women make this country run--we are business leaders, entrepreneurs, 
politicians, mothers and more. But we earn just 78 cents for every 
dollar our male counterpart makes. Women of color get paid even less.
  As a U.S. Senator, I am fighting for jobs today and jobs tomorrow. I 
am on the side of a fair economy and I am the side of good-guy 
businesses. We need an economy that works for everyone.
  I was proud to sponsor the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in the 
Senate, and even prouder to stand next to President Obama as he signed 
his first bill into law. This law overturns the Supreme Court's 
decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. so that the laws 
against pay discrimination apply to every paycheck or other 
compensation a worker receives. This protects victims of discrimination 
and allows them to file a lawsuit any time that they find they have 
been treated unfairly.
  But more needs to be done. The next step is the Paycheck Fairness 
Act. This bill will help close the wage gap between men and women. It 
will help empower women to negotiate for equal pay, create strong 
incentives for employers to obey the laws already in place, and 
strengthen enforcement.
  It is time to recommit to closing the wage gap. From the day I first 
entered Congress I have worked hard to guarantee equality to everyone 
under the law. I firmly believe that all forms of discrimination should 
be prohibited. I believe people should be judged by their individual 
skills, competence, unique talents and nothing else. And once you get 
that job because of your skills and talents you better get equal pay 
for equal work. It is time to tell all of those who have suffered wage 
discrimination--it is a new day.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today Americans are observing Equal Pay 
Day. It is the date that marks the 110 extra days that women must work 
into 2010 in order to equal what men earned in 2009.
  In 1963, responding to the fact that the 25 million female workers in 
our workforce earned just 60 percent of the average pay for men, 
Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act to end this brazen yet widely 
tolerated discrimination.
  Over the past 47 years, we have made progress towards the great goal 
of equal pay for women. But, progress has been stalled in the last 
decade. As we observe Equal Pay Day this year, it is a sad fact that 
too many women in this country still do not get paid what men do for 
the exact same work. On average, a woman makes only 77 cents for every 
dollar that a man makes. The circumstances are even worse for Latinas 
and women of color.
  This is wrong and unjust. But, even more, it threatens the economic 
security of our families. Millions of Americans are dependent on a 
woman's paycheck just to get by, put food on the table, pay for child 
care, and deal with rising health care bills. Two-thirds of mothers 
bring home at least a quarter of their family's earnings. In many 
families, the woman is the sole breadwinner. And, during the latest 
economic downturn, more men have lost

[[Page S2471]]

jobs than women, making households even more dependent than ever on 
women's earnings.
  The fact is, America's women are working harder than ever, but they 
are not being fairly compensated for their contributions to our 
economy. On average, women lose an estimated $700,000 over their 
lifetimes due to unequal pay practices, and this inequality means real 
hardships for their families.
  And, while many factors influence a worker's earnings--including 
educational attainment, work experience, and family status--even when 
controlling for many of these variables, a substantial portion of the 
wage gap cannot be explained by anything but discrimination.
  This issue is highlighted by the experience of Lilly Ledbetter. Over 
nearly two decades of work, Lilly received performance awards and 
outstanding reviews. Yet, late in her career, she learned, through an 
anonymous note, that she had been paid significantly less than men in 
the company doing the exact same job. When she sued, a jury reviewed 
the evidence and concluded that she was paid less because of her 
gender.
  Outrageously, the Supreme Court reversed the jury's verdict. They 
held that, even though Lilly's company, like so many others that 
discriminate, do so covertly and do not reveal what male workers earn, 
Lilly somehow should have known that she had been discriminated against 
within 180 days of when she was hired. Because workers like Lilly do 
not learn of pay inequities for years, the decision left no recourse 
for her and for other victims of wage discrimination.
  Largely because of Lilly's determination to win justice for women, 
the first legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by 
President Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Very simply, this 
law reversed the Court's severely flawed decision.
  We celebrate enactment of this important law, but we must recognize 
that it was only a first step. We need to do much more.
  First, there are too many loopholes and too many barriers to 
effective enforcement of existing laws. That is why I strongly support 
the Paycheck Fairness Act. This bill--sponsored by Senator Dodd, 
Senator Mikulski, and Representative Rosa DeLauro--would strengthen 
penalties for discrimination and give women the tools they need to 
identify and confront unfair treatment.
  In January, the House of Representatives passed the bill 
overwhelmingly on a bipartisan basis. And, last month, the Senate 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which I chair, held a 
hearing on this long-overdue bill. I hope that the Senate can pass the 
bill and send it to the President's desk this year.
  In addition, we must recognize that the problem of unequal pay goes 
beyond insidious discrimination. As a nation, we unjustly devalue jobs 
traditionally performed by women, even when they require comparable 
skills to jobs traditionally performed by men. Why is a housekeeper 
worth less than a janitor? Why is a parking meter reader worth less 
than an electrical meter reader? To address this more subtle 
discrimination, last year on Equal Pay Day I introduced the Fair Pay 
Act to ensure that employers provide equal pay for jobs that are 
equivalent in skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
  My bill would also require employers to publicly disclose their job 
categories and their pay scales, without requiring specific information 
on individual employees. Giving people better bargaining information in 
the first place will help alleviate the need for costly litigation by 
giving employees the leverage they need to have informed pay 
discussions with their employers. Right now, women who suspect pay 
discrimination must file a lawsuit and go through a drawn out legal 
discovery process to find out whether they make less than the man 
working beside them.
  With pay statistics readily available, this expensive process could 
be avoided. In fact, I asked Lilly Ledbetter: If the Fair Pay Act had 
been law, would it have prevented her wage discrimination case? She 
made clear that, if she had been aware of the information about pay 
scales that the bill provides, she would have known she was a victim of 
sex discrimination.
  The Fair Pay Act removes many of the systematic barriers that lead to 
unequal pay. We must act this year to pass this important legislation 
to eliminate the longstanding biases that prevent America's women 
workers from achieving true equality in the workplace.
  On this Equal Pay Day, let us recommit ourselves to eliminating 
discrimination in the workplace and ensuring that all Americans receive 
equal pay for equal work. America's working women--and the families 
that rely on them--deserve fairness on the job. And, let me be clear, 
as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, I 
pledge to fight pay discrimination until we have achieved true equality 
in the workplace and there is no longer a need to observe Equal Pay 
Day.

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