“Men have to demand that their wives, daughters, mothers and sisters earn more —commensurate with their qualifications and not their gender. Equality will be achieved when men and women are granted equal pay and equal respect.” – Beyoncé ***
If your son and your daughter both held the same amount of education and training and overall qualifications for a job they had aspired to do for years, they then applied, interviewed and accepted offers for that job at the same company, you would be thrilled right? Would you be as thrilled to discover that your son was offered $65,000 and your daughter was offered $47,320 for the same job?
Are We Still in the 1950s?
Years ago, I was assisting a male business professional, Jed, who was seeking to hire someone into an entry level position. As we discussed the candidates we had interviewed and who we thought was worthy of a job offer, we advanced to the obvious discussion of pay. I am not ashamed of my advocacy for fair, appropriate wages for individuals when making job offers. I believe it is easier to hire them at the most suitable rate in the beginning, than it is to try to justify raising their pay arbitrarily long after they’ve been hired. It rarely makes sense and usually creates compression among coworkers in the same job (meaning, it creates an imbalance that makes it difficult to bring others in at a fair and equal rate of pay later). Jed, stated he wanted me to offer this male candidate a higher rate than what I was proposing. Again, keep in mind I tend to be generous with offers whenever possible, so I asked him why he wanted to offer more money and his answer was that the candidate was “a young man and he has a young family” so we should give him a little more money to support his family. After he said that, I looked around the room, thinking there were hidden cameras and camera operators who were going to step out at any moment for the big surprise, to show me this was all a TV prank or video vignette to be featured on “What Would You Do?”
Needless to say, I was surprised to hear anyone say such a thing to me about compensation for someone. Compensation, like any other financial transaction should be well substantiated, accurate and justified by more numbers. I have historically made job offers based upon work experience; education, when the job requires a baseline and prefers greater, and of course, fairness when compared with incumbent workers (those already in the job) with similar education and experience. As far as I was concerned, no one would ever need to question how or why I derived a specific pay rate for anyone I hired.
Fair Pay is Basic Professionalism
Fair pay is a no brainer for me. I would like to say it’s common sense but as I have said on more than one occasion, common sense ain’t so common! This blog is written for leaders and potential leaders. If there is a thought in your head that makes you justify paying two people differently when you know they are doing the same job and have similar or the same backgrounds then you are not yet ready for leadership. You are, however, part of a larger issue that our society faces that once again points to deeply rooted discrimination that exists in the underbelly of the business world.
One key aspect of any leader’s role is to ensure that the people they lead have the tools and the resources they need to do their best work. It is also to make sure those people are rewarded appropriately for that work. To fall short in these three areas is poor leadership. Even if one lacks the power and authority to make the necessary changes, should there need to be any, one can still fight for those changes with individuals who hold the real power and authority.
With or without that fight, however, our nation still has a notable gap in pay between that of men versus that of women. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2018, women on average, working full time were paid 81.6 cents for every dollar a man earned. In 2020 research published by Payscale indicates this gap continues. The gap was greater for African American women and Latinas.
According to The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation 2019 Report, released by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “Women’s median earnings are lower than men’s in nearly all occupations, whether they work in occupations predominantly done by women, occupations predominantly done by men, or occupations with a more even mix of men and women.”
There are five occupations where women’s median weekly earnings are higher than men’s, but 120 occupations in which they are lower. The occupation with the largest gender wage gap, with women being lower, is that of ‘financial managers.
The Paycheck Fairness Act
The Equal Pay Act
The Equal Pay Act, passed as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1963. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in the payment of wages by employers. Specifically, it states that employers may not pay unequal wages to men and women who perform substantially equal jobs and work at the same establishment. Substantially equal jobs” has been interpreted to mean jobs that require similar skill (experience, ability, education, and training), effort (physical and mental) and responsibility, and are performed under similar working conditions.
The EPA however, permits unequal pay for equal work if it is the result of wages being set pursuant to:
1. A seniority system;
2. A merit system;
3. A system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or
4. Any factor other than sex.
These four circumstances constitute the statute’s four affirmative defenses against claims of wage discrimination and are usually enough to help employers win claims against employees who assert wage discrimination.
The EPA also allows employers to require employees to sign contracts prohibiting the discussion of wages, which can substantially hinder the exposure of wage discrimination within an organization.
On April 15, 2021, The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Improving Upon the EPA
This bill addresses wage discrimination on the basis of sex, which is defined to include pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.
Specifically, it limits an employer’s defense for a pay differential to only legitimate job-related factors in wage discrimination claims, it enhances non-retaliation prohibitions, and makes it unlawful to require an employee to sign a contract or waiver prohibiting the employee from disclosing wage information to others. The bill also increases civil penalties for violations of equal pay provisions.
Additionally, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs would be required to train EEOC employees and other affected parties on wage discrimination.
The bill directs the Department of Labor to:
- Establish and carry out a grant program to provide training in negotiation skills related to compensation and equitable working conditions,
- Conduct studies to eliminate pay disparities between men and women, and
- Make wage discrimination information available to the public to assist in building understanding and addressing such discrimination.
The bill establishes the National Award for Pay Equity in the Workplace for an employer who has made a substantial effort to eliminate pay disparities between men and women. It also establishes the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force to address public education, compliance and enforcement of equal pay laws.
The bill also requires the EEOC to issue regulations for data collection from employers’ compensation and other employment data according to the sex, race, and national origin of employees for use in enforcing laws prohibiting pay discrimination.
The Senate failed to pass the Act on June 8, 2021. The bill, voted down 49-50, would have required 60 votes to advance. As important as this issue is to the equity and advancement of American lives, all but one Senate Republican blocked its passing. Without appearing to be partisan in any way, the generalized rationale was that it creates an undue burden on employers, it creates too many opportunities for lawsuits to line the pockets of trial attorneys and with other laws on the books, why create another one?
Obviously, Senate republicans would be OK with the scenario I described earlier. Knowing their daughter was making significantly less than an equally qualified son is alright with them. Maybe we should make it a point to reduce the pay of their daughters (those who voted against this act only of course)… maybe even the pay of the nay voting female senators themselves and see if they might have a little more sympathy for the American public who keeps this nation running. And in reference to my post earlier this week, given the shortage of workers that many employers are experiencing, maybe now might be a good time to encourage women to return to the workforce. After all, women and communities of color were the hardest hit and most negatively affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Closing Thoughts
I thought this information was important enough to talk about, as it may not be the most obvious of political status quo offerings made available by today’s spectating politicians. Far be it from me to expect real leadership from those elected to provide it. I’ve never seen so much grand standing for justice from individuals who vote contrary to that stand. It would then be up to the voters to let their voices be heard and ensure such individuals, who stand in the way of equity and national and individual advancement, lose their political seats and return to the real world… Ohhh but to limit the voice of the people, they blocked the Voting Rights Bill too!