by Patricia Schaeffer, Vice President-Regulatory Affairs
The House Workforce Protections Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing Wednesday, July 11, 2007 on “The Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 1338).” Scheduled to testify at the hearing are:
- Dr. Evelyn Murphy, President, WAGE Project, Inc., Resident Scholar, Women’s Research Center, Brandeis University, Boston, Massachusetts
- Marcia Greenberger, Co-President, National Women’s Law Center, Washington, DC
- Joseph Sellers, Partner, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, PLLC
- Camille A. Olson, Partner, Seyfarth, LLP, Chicago, Illinois
H.R. 1338 was introduced on March 6, 2007 by Rep. Rosa L. DeLaurao (D-CT) and has 222 sponsors. It would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to revise remedies for an enforcement or prohibitions against sex discrimination in the payment of wages to (1) add nonretaliation requirements; (2) increase penalties; and (3) authorize the Secretary of Labor to seek additional compensatory or punitive damages.
Other specific provisions include:
- Requires the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to train EEOC employees and affected individuals and entities on matters involving wage discrimination.
- Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to eligible entities for negotiation skills training programs for girls and women. Directs the Secretaries of Labor and Education to issue regulations or policy guidance to integrate such training into certain programs under their Departments.
- Directs the Secretary to provide for certain studies, information, national summit, and guidelines, awards, and assistance for employer evaluations of job categories based on objective criteria.
- Establishes the Secretary of Labor's National Award for Pay Equity in the Workplace.
- Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require the EEOC to collect certain pay information.
- Directs: (1) the Commissioner of Labor Statistics to collect data on woman workers in the Current Employment Statistics survey; (2) the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to use specified types of methods in investigating compensation discrimination and in enforcing pay equity; and (3) the Secretary to make accurate information on compensation discrimination readily available to the public.
