GET THE FACTS ABOUT FAIR PAY

WHAT IS PAY EQUITY?

LEGISLATION & POLICY

RESOURCE LIST

WHAT IS PAY EQUITY? The concept of Equal Pay for Equal Work is widely understood, accepted and mostly practiced in jobs in which both men and women have the same job title, although the recent Ledbetter Supreme Court decision highlighted the cracks in current legislation,. But only 1 in 7 women work in male dominated fields where pay is highest and equal pay laws prevail. In female dominated jobs, in which the bulk of women work, salary levels are consistently and historically low. The bottom line is that society undervalues these fields and underpays women for their work. Pay equity – evaluating and compensating jobs based on skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions and not on the people who hold the jobs – is a solution to eliminating wage discrimination and closing the wage gap.

Pay Equity 101 Power point (pdf) (ppt)
What is Comparable Worth (pdf)
Equal Pay Q & A
How Do We Know It is Worth It? (pdf)
Women: Now Learning More, Still Earning Less
BPW/USA Factsheet

LEGISLATION & POLICY
Over 40 years ago the Equal Pay Act (EPA) made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who performed substantially equal work. The continuous disparity in wages between men and women signifies a need for stronger laws to guarantee women are paid equally.

New York State: Fair Pay Act (A.2712/S.3936) would ensure equal pay for equal and comparable work (see definition above) by calling for private and public entities to evaluate jobs that have gender predominance and remedy inequities. It would also protect workers from retaliation when seeking salary information in the workplace. This has gained greater relevance since the May, 2007 Ledbetter Supreme Court decision, which is discussed below.

Assembly Bill A02712
http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A027122

Senate Bill S3936
http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menuf.cgi

Federal Fair Pay:
Ledbetter and the Fair Pay Restoration Act (S.1843) In the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. the plaintiff, Lilly Ledbetter, one of very few women supervisors at the Goodyear plant, suffered from decades of pay discrimination. While a jury found in her favor, the Supreme Court took her compensation away, holding that she waited too long to file her case. As a result victims of unequal pay have no federal protections unless they file a charge within 180 days of the employer’s initial discriminatory decision. The Fair Pay Restoration Act which is pending in the Senate would address these issues. www.nwlc.org

Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 841, H.R. 1687) seeks to strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) by providing more effective remedies to victims of sex discrimination in the payment of wages. Toughen the remedy provisions of the EPA by allowing prevailing plaintiffs to recover

Fair Pay Act (S. 840, H.R.1697) the Fair Labor Standards of 1938 to prohibit discrimination in the payment of wages on account of sex, race, or national origin, and seeks equal pay for women working in female-dominated jobs with equivalent in skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions to jobs dominated by men.

RESOURCE LIST
Nation Pay Equity Coaltion
National Women’s Law Center
Women Work

Studies:
Self-Sufficiency Study
Economic Status of Women in NY
AAUW – Beyond the Gender Gap
Institute for Women’s Policy Research – Best and Worst States

For more information or to be part of NYWA’s Pay Equity project, contact:
Government Affairs Committee Co-chairs Joan D. Firestone and Beverly Neufeld