WASHINGTON — One day following Equal Pay Day, and the signing of two executive orders regarding pay equality by President Obama, the Senate GOP stopped consideration for the Paycheck Fairness Act. Obama addressed the issue of pay inequality by signing an order that prohibits federal contractors from retaliating against workers who discuss their salaries with one another. He also ordered new rules for contractors to file data with the federal government showing how they compensate by race and gender to increase transparency.
This is the third time the act has passed in the House and been stopped in the Senate. However, Democratic Senators and Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. say they will bring the vote to the floor again with the hopes they will get the majority needed to send the bill to be signed the President.
The Paycheck Fairness Act, sponsored by Senator Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., if passed, the act would have made employers who violate sex discrimination prohibitions liable in a civil action for either compensatory or punitive damages. The act would have also amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require the EEOC to collect from employers pay information regarding the sex, race, and national origin of employees for use in the enforcement of federal laws prohibiting pay discrimination.