Action Alerts

The National Organization for Women is trying to build support for the “Paycheck Fairness Act” (H.R. 12 / S. 182) — which means those of us who actually support equality need to write twice as many letters to our Senators explaining why they need to vote NO.

The bill passed the House on January 9, 2009, 256-163 (with 14 not voting) and is now headed to the Senate for a vote. (Check the status of the bill in the widget on the right.)

Some issues with this bill:

• The “findings” section takes the gender wage gap as a given — with zero factual evidence to back it up.

  (2) Despite the enactment of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, many women continue to earn significantly lower pay than men for equal work. These pay disparities exist in both the private and governmental sectors. In many instances, the pay disparities can only be due to continued intentional discrimination or the lingering effects of past discrimination.

• Rather than leaving the law at not discriminating against someone on the basis of their gender (which is fair), Section 3 requires employers to show business necessity and provide a “bona fide factor other than sex, such as education, training, or experience” whenever an employee changes positions or pay. Not only is this a significant burden on the shoulders of the employer — particularly large employers — but many employment and pay decisions are far more nuanced than the language of this bill implies, and a nuanced decision does not mean sex discrimination.

  For example, if you have two employees, and one (Bob) comes in early and stays late each day while a second (Kim) comes in exactly when her shift starts and leaves exactly when it ends, it would make sense to promote Bob and consider him for a better raise than Kim even though his attitude is not a “bona fide factor.”

• Section 5 allocates funds for the creation of negotiation skills training for girls and women — with zero funds allocated for teaching boys or men these same negotiation skills.

• Section 7 creates an award for companies that the government considers to employ fair wage practices. Because your tax dollars couldn’t be used for anything better than that.

• Section 9 reinstates the collection of data on women workers with no mention of men. How can this bill seriously have the word “Fairness” in the title?

Here’s what you can do about it:

1. Be sure to read the full text of S. 182.

2. Check to see if you are represented by one of the Senators co-sponsoring S. 182 If you are, write them a letter immediately explaining why this bill is fundamentally unfair and that they should withdraw their sponsorship.

3. If your Senators aren’t co-sponsoring the bill, that doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. The bill will eventually come up for a vote, and every vote matters — so write a letter to your Senators right away explaining why the “Paycheck Fairness Act” is not about fairness at all, and urge them to vote no.

   Ask the hard questions. Why should we discriminate against boys by providing only girls with negotiations training, and why is the government only collecting data on women? In fact, why is the government getting involved at all when the “gender wage gap” doesn’t exist?

4. Share this information with your friends and encourage them to take a stand for equality, too.

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