On Equal Pay Day, Norton Highlights Her Three Equal Pay Bills

Statement

Today, on Equal Pay Day, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), the first woman to chair the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, highlighted the three bills she has introduced this Congress to help close the pay gap for women and minorities. Equal Pay Day marks the number of additional days women must work to earn what men earned the prior year. Norton's Pay Equity for All Act, which passed the House last year, prohibits employers from asking job applicants for their salary history before making a job or salary offer. Norton's Fair Pay Act would require that if men and women are doing comparable work, they must be paid comparable wages. Norton's Salary Transparency Act would require employers to provide the salary range for jobs in advertisements and interviews and to existing employees.

"Equal Pay Day is an annual reminder that American women earn less than men," Norton said. "I have introduced three bills this Congress to help close the pay gap for women and minorities. These changes are long overdue to help eliminate the entrenched wage disparities in the job market."

The Pay Equity for All Act would help reduce the pay gap by prohibiting employers from asking for a job applicant's salary history. Workers from historically disadvantaged groups often start their careers with lower pay than their white male counterparts and can never catch up. While employers may not intend to discriminate, asking for prior pay information can have a discriminatory effect and reinforce the pay gap. This bill passed the House last year as part of the Paycheck Fairness Act.

The Fair Pay Act builds on the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by allowing women to show that some or all of a pay disparity is based on gender-segregated comparable jobs. For example, if a woman is employed as an emergency services operator, which is a female-dominated profession, she should not be paid less than a fire dispatcher, which is a male-dominated profession, just because these jobs have been historically dominated by one sex.

The Salary Transparency Act would help reduce the pay gap by requiring employers to provide the salary range for jobs. Salary secrecy facilitates both intentional and unintentional pay discrimination and perpetuates the pay gap.

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