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_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________

 

Congressional Research Service (CRS)

 

Pay Equity Legislation

Jody Feder, Legislative Attorney

Linda Levine, Specialist in Labor Economics

September 20, 2010

http://opencrs.com/document/RL31867/2010-09-20/download/1013/

[full-text, 13 pages]

 

Summary

The term “pay equity” originates from the fact that women as a group are paid less than men. In

recent years, for example, women with a strong commitment to the workforce earned about 77 to

80 cents for every dollar earned by men. As women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s earnings

have narrowed by less than 20 percentage points over the past 40-plus years, some members of

the public policy community have argued that current anti-discrimination laws should be

strengthened and that additional measures should be enacted. Others, in contrast, believe that

further government intervention is unnecessary because the gender wage gap will narrow on its

own as women’s labor market qualifications continue to more closely resemble those of men.

 

The Equal Pay Act (EPA), which amends the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), prohibits covered

employers from paying lower wages to female employees than male employees for “equal work”

on jobs requiring “equal skill, effort, and responsibility” and performed “under similar working

conditions” at the same location. The FLSA exempts some jobs (e.g., hotel service workers) from

EPA coverage, and the EPA makes exceptions for wage differentials based on merit or seniority

systems, systems that measure earnings by “quality or quantity” of production, or “any factor

other than sex.” The “equal work” standard embodies a middle ground between demanding that

two jobs either be exactly alike or that they merely be comparable. The test applied by the courts

focuses on job similarity and whether, given all the circumstances, they require substantially the

same skill, effort, and responsibility. The EPA may be enforced by the government, or individual

complainants, in civil actions for wages unlawfully withheld and liquidated damages for willful

violations. In addition, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act provides for the awarding of

compensatory and punitive damages to victims of “intentional” wage discrimination, subject to

caps on the employer’s monetary liability.

 

The issue of pay equity has attracted substantial attention in recent Congresses. A number of

measures, including bills that would provide additional remedies, mandate “equal pay for

equivalent jobs,” or require studies on pay inequity, have been introduced in each of the last

several congressional sessions. In the 111th Congress, similar legislation has been introduced,

including the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 12/S. 182/S. 3772), the Fair Pay Act (H.R. 2151/S.

904), and the Title VII Fairness Act (S. 166). In addition, on January 29, 2009, President Obama

signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (H.R. 11/S. 181). This legislation supersedes the

2007 Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc., by amending

Title VII to clarify that the time limit for suing employers for pay discrimination begins each time

they issue a paycheck. Although the House of Representatives passed both the Ledbetter

legislation and the Paycheck Fairness Act as a combined package, the Senate did not combine the

two bills and has not yet taken up the latter for a vote. Recently, however, Senator Reid

reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act as S. 3772, and the bill has been placed on the Senate

calendar.

 

Contents

The Gender Wage Gap ................................................................................................................1

The Male-Female Pay Differential over Time........................................................................1

Explanations of and Remedies for the Gender Pay Differential ..............................................3

Legal and Legislative Background ..............................................................................................4

Laws That Combat Sex-Based Wage Discrimination .............................................................4

“Comparable Worth” Litigation and Other Judicial Developments.........................................5

Recent Legislation ......................................................................................................................8

Paycheck Fairness Act...........................................................................................................8

Fair Pay Act ........................................................................................................................10

Tables

Table 1. Ratio of Female-to-Male Earnings .................................................................................2

Contacts

Author Contact Information ......................................................................................................10

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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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