Act NOW for Equal Pay Act

This just in from Momsrising.org.

Flex your pointer finger for another mighty click to send a second letter on wage discrimination to Congress at Paycheck Fairness Act.

What’s it all about? Quite simply, the Paycheck Fairness Act is the granddaughter of the Equal Pay Act of 1963-the original “equal pay for equal work law” that was so pivotal to building economic security for mothers and families. The House of Representatives plans to vote tomorrow on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would update and strengthen that Act. It would close loopholes and improved the law’s effectiveness in many ways, including:

• Improving Equal Pay Act Remedies by putting gender-based wage discrimination on an equal footing with wage discrimination based on race or ethnicity, for which full compensatory and punitive damages are already available.

• Improving Collection of Pay Information to enhance the detection of violations of law and improve enforcement of the laws against pay discrimination.

• Prohibiting Employer Retaliation by prohibiting employers from punishing employees for sharing salary information with their coworkers, which currently happens on a regular basis.

• Closing a Loophole in the Employer Defense by excusing a pay differential for men and women only where the employer can show that the differential is truly caused by something other than sex and is related to job performance.

• Eliminating the “Establishment” Requirement by clarifying that a pay comparison need not be between employees in the same physical place of business.

Since the vote is happening within the next day, please take a moment now to forward this post to friends, family, neighbors, moms groups, and more, so they can take action too. We need to have as many moms as possible contacting their U.S. Representatives to let them know that we expect them to vote YES on the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Here’s that link again, in case you need it.

Let’s make our grandmothers proud and help build momentum for this important legislation.

– Nanette, Donna, Kristin and the MomsRising.org Team

P.S. The National Women’s Law Center has a terrific factsheet.

P.P.S. Tell us your stories about fair pay, or the lack thereof.

Come on ladies – make me proud – take two seconds of your life and make an extra quarter an hour! Hello!

Tell your husband to do it too!