Paycheck Fairness Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. ADAMS. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and for his support, and for his leadership on the committee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, as I have done for my entire career, from the North Carolina House to the U.S. House, in support of equal pay for equal work.

It is 2021, and women are still subject to unequal, unfair compensation in the workplace. This truth, this wage gap is at its worst for women of color. Black women, for example, earn an average of 63 cents on the dollar compared to men.

This issue persists in nearly every line of work, regardless of education, experience, occupation, industry, or job title. And if you don't believe that data, take it from me. I have lived it.

The Paycheck Fairness Act is an opportunity for Congress to strengthen the Equal Pay Act, to bolster the rights of working women, and to put an end to the gender-based wage disparity once and for all.

We cannot continue to rob nearly half of our Nation's workforce of the wages they deserve, nor can we continue to force women to work far more just to be paid fairly.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the National Partnership for Women and Families in support of H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act. National Partnership for Women & Families, April 13, 2021.

Dear Member of Congress: The National Partnership for Women & Families is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization committed to improving the lives of women and families by achieving equity for all women. Since our creation as the Women's Legal Defense Fund in 1971, we have fought for every significant federal advance for equal opportunity in the workplace, including the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. We write in strong support of H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act, and urge you to vote for passage while opposing any harmful amendments. This critical bill will help our nation build back an economy that works for everyone by ensuring that all women can work with equality and dignity.

As the Paycheck Fairness Act recognizes, women and workers from communities of color continue to face significant pay disparities in the United States. On average, women working full time and year-round are paid only 82 cents for every dollar paid to men, and the wage gap is widest for women of color. Among women who hold full-time, year-round jobs in the United States, Black women are typically paid 63 cents, Native American women 60 cents and Latinas just 55 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. White, non- Hispanic women are paid 79 cents. Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women who work full time, year-round are paid as little as 52 cents for every dollar paid to white, non- Hispanic men, as Burmese women are. Asian American women overall are paid just 87 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. The wage gap persists across different industries, occupations and education levels and exists in nearly every congressional district.

These troubling statistics underscore the need to update our nation's equal pay laws. The Paycheck Fairness Act would make it safe for workers to discuss their wages with each other. Employers can currently mask compensation discrimination with pay secrecy policies that forbid employees from discussing pay and benefits. Secrecy and the threat of retaliation leave workers unable to learn about and challenge pay disparities. In a survey of private-sector workers, over 62 percent of women and 60 percent of men reported that their employers discourage or prohibit discussing wage and salary information. The Paycheck Fairness Act would make pay secrecy policies illegal.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would also prohibit employers from screening job applicants based on their salary history or requiring salary history during the interview process. Women are typically paid lower wages than men even in their first jobs. Salary disparities that begin early in a woman's career can follow her from job to job when employers are permitted to base a new hire's salary on her prior earnings. People should be paid fairly for the job they are being hired to do.

The bill would also make it more difficult for employers to justify pay discrimination. Workers in the same company who do the same job and have the same amount of experience, education and training should be paid the same. Currently, however, employers are able to explain away differences in pay too easily by relying on a catch-all defense in the Equal Pay Act. The Paycheck Fairness Act would close that loophole and require employers to prove that any differences in pay are not sex-based, are job-related concerning the position in question, and are consistent with business necessity and account for the entire difference in compensation. Employees claiming pay discrimination would also have new opportunities to prove that the employer's defense is the pretext.

In addition to these critical provisions, the Paycheck Fairness Act would also allow workers alleging pay discrimination within the same company to file class-action suits; would change the remedies of the Equal Pay Act to treat gender-based pay discrimination claims the same as other civil rights violations that result in unfair pay; would recognize companies that want to do better; and would improve fair pay enforcement, data collection and disclosure.

Closing the gender and racial wage gap is a crucial measure to take in response to COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, women and people of color have disproportionately experienced the adverse effects of the public health and economic crisis. Women and people of color have been on the front lines working in our most essential occupations, but forces like wage inequality have kept them underpaid and undervalued. The Paycheck Fairness Act would ensure that workers are given the support needed to ensure pay equity during this time of crisis.

Updating our nation's equal pay laws is also crucial to reducing negative impacts resulting from the mass exodus of women from the labor force during the pandemic. Women's labor force participation is at a 33-year record low, with nearly a million moms having left the workforce, largely due to the difficulties of balancing full-time work and care responsibilities. Increases in women's labor force participation rates drove the significant narrowing of the gender wage gap during the 1970s and 1980s, a narrowing which stagnated in the late 1990s, around the time women's labor force participation peaked. Without the Paycheck Fairness Act, progress on closing the gender wage gap could be set back decades, especially since women face financial penalties for taking time out of the workforce, with one study finding that women who took just one year out of the workforce had annual earnings 39 percent lower than women who did not.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen existing federal protections, ensure more equitable workplaces and allow women to remain in the workforce and maintain their economic stability at all phases of life. At the current rate of progress, projections are that the gender wage gap will close in 2041 for Asian women, 2069 for white women, 2369 for Black women, and 2451 for Latina women. Women cannot--and should not--wait that long for pay equity. It is time to clarify and strengthen existing federal protections for women in the workforce by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act. We urge you to vote in support and opposed harmful amendments.

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