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On Equal Pay Day, Murray again seeks Paycheck Fairness Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 4, 2017) — Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) today marked Equal Pay Day and reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation that would strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and guarantee that women can challenge pay discrimination and hold employers accountable.

Women working full-time, year-round still earn 80 cents, on average, for every dollar earned by men in the same job. Equal Pay Day symbolizes the date when women’s wages finally catch up to what men were paid in the previous year.

“The wage gap doesn’t just hurt women — it hurts families and the economy,” Murray said. “Women are the sole or co-breadwinner in two thirds of families with children. Families increasingly rely on women’s wages to help make ends meet: to buy groceries, pay the bills, and pay for childcare.”

One key way to start closing the pay gap is for Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which strengthens and closes loopholes in the 1963 Equal Pay Act, and provides effective remedies to women who are not being paid equal pay for equal work. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) has introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act in every Congress since 1997.

“The Paycheck Fairness Act provides transparency and support for women who are being paid less than their male colleagues,” Murray said. “It protects women from retaliation for discussing salary information with co-workers, allows women to join together in class-action lawsuits, and it prohibits employers from seeking salary history, so the cycle of pay discrimination cannot continue.”

“The Paycheck Fairness Act updates the Equal Pay Act and again reaffirms that every worker in America should be paid based on the quality of their work, not based on gender,” she added.


 

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