Voting Today on Fair Pay Acts
Friday, January 9th, 2009The House is scheduled to vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act today, January 9.
Earlier this week, lobbyists encouraged their constituents to contact their representatives for and against this bill.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) says the bills go too far. Here’s an excerpt from their action alert:
The Paycheck Fairness Act would limit an employer’s ability to justify paying different salaries to workers based in different locations with different costs of living. Second, the bill would lift the caps on compensatory or punitive damages for which employers would be liable, in addition to current liability for back pay. These damage penalties would apply to even unintentional pay disparities.
MomsRising, however, argues the Paycheck Fairness Act provides long-overdue equitable protection for women. From their action letter:
The Paycheck Fairness Act would deter wage discrimination by closing loopholes in the law and barring retaliation against workers who disclose their wages. The bill strengthens the Equal Pay Act to ensure that it provides effective protection against sex-based pay discrimination. Toward that end, it also allows women to receive the same remedies for pay discrimination that are currently available to those subject to discrimination based on race and national origin.
Can you see the legitimacy of both arguments?
Posted by Jaime