Articles Discussing Equal Pay In The Workplace.

More than 35 years after the United Kingdom’s Equal Pay Act was introduced, recently released statistics show a 19.2 percent gap in average full time salaries between men and women.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is soliciting public comments on two proposed policy changes that could have a significant impact on employers. The agency plans to require companies with 100 or more employees to include pay data as part of their Employer Information Report (EEO-1) form submissions, and issue enforcement guidance on unlawful retaliation.

On the anniversary of President Barack Obama signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has announced proposed changes to its EEO-1 report, requiring employers to submit employee W-2 earnings and hours worked. All employers with at least 100 employees would be required to comply. EEOC and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) would jointly have access to the pay data for enforcement purposes.

Senate Democrats continue to push pay equity as a pre-November election theme. On Wednesday, the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 2199) resurfaced to serve this purpose. Supporters of the bill needed at least 60 votes on a motion to proceed to consideration of the measure. The chamber voted 73-25 in favor of proceeding.

As expected, Senate supporters of the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 2199) failed to muster the 60 votes needed to advance the bill to a floor vote. This bill would have, among other things, expanded damages available under the Equal Pay Act (EPA) to include potentially unlimited compensatory and punitive awards for wage discrimination; weakened an employer’s ability to raise the “factor other than sex” affirmative defense in a wage discrimination case; eased the requirements for bringing a class action lawsuit under the EPA; made it unlawful for an employer to prevent employees from discussing or comparing salaries; and imposed additional compensation reporting requirements on employers. The measure needed an additional six votes to ensure filibuster-proof consideration.

Because the House of Representatives is not expected to consider the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 2199) this term, President Obama will reportedly implement provisions of this measure applicable to federal contractors via Executive actions on Tuesday. The move will coincide with Equal Pay Day, and is the latest in a series of recent Presidential actions designed to implement employment law reform by bypassing Congress.

In advance of an expected floor vote, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on April 1 to discuss the merits of the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 84). Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (MD), chief sponsor of the legislation, said the Senate needs to “finish the job started by the Lily Ledbetter” Fair Pay Act. The bill, which has been introduced several times in the last few years but has failed to advance, would make the following changes to current wage law: