H.R.17 - Paycheck Fairness Act

Congress has re-introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R.17). The legislation seeks to guarantee women and men are paid equally for the same jobs, one of several gender equity priorities backed by President Joe Biden.

The bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to give employees new ways to seek damages for gender-based wage discrimination. It would change the language and grounds that an employer could use in a legal defense to explain a difference in pay between employees when a lawsuit is brought against the employer alleging pay discrimination on the basis of sex. Making employers liable for unlimited punitive damages under the FLSA for even unintentional pay disparities.

Supporters of the bill argue that it is needed to address existing "loopholes" in current law that allow companies to continue wage discrimination on the basis of sex. Women who seek to address pay discrimination through lawsuits currently have the deck stacked against them, they say, but the bill will place the burden of proof on employers where it belongs by requiring them to prove the pay disparity is job related. Similarly, the bill will end companies' currently allowed excuse that the pay disparity is a result of different work locations, even if they are in the same city and provide the same working conditions, and it will provide incentives for employers to avoid pay disparities by allowing compensatory and punitive damages in Equal Pay Act lawsuits and by automatically including all prospective plaintiffs in class action lawsuits. The bill also increases transparency with regard to pay rates by preventing employers from blocking or retaliating against workers who share salary information, they say, and it helps break the cycle of pay disparity by prohibiting employers from basing salary on previous wages.

Opponents of the bill say it represents a gift to trial lawyers and would upset the current, appropriate balance between requiring any pay disparities to be limited to genuine, job-related factors and the ability of companies to exercise business judgment without undue and unnecessary interference. The bill represents a bonanza for lawyers, they say, by adding compensatory and punitive damages that greatly increases potential awards to both plaintiffs and their lawyers, and by automatically adding all potential plaintiffs to class action lawsuits — which again increases potential attorney rewards. And it makes it nearly impossible for employers to successfully defend themselves against charges of wage discrimination in lawsuits, modifying legal standards to effectively require employers to justify 100% of any pay differential and limit the long-recognized ability of business owners to justify pay differences based on different work locations. It also hamstrings the ability of employers to seek wage information from prospective employees or their employers, they say, and it mandates the intrusive government collection of work pay data.

Do you think Congress should pass Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation that would guarantee women can challenge pay discrimination and hold employers accountable?

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