| |
| |
|
|
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
|
|
|
WHEREAS, Congress first addressed the issue of unequal pay in |
|
|
1963 by passing the Equal Pay Act as an amendment to the Fair Labor |
|
|
Standards Act of 1938; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, equal pay for |
|
|
equal work is a fair labor standard alongside minimum wages, |
|
|
overtime pay, and the protection of child laborers; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Unfortunately, weaknesses in the equal pay |
|
|
provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act have made the act |
|
|
ineffective in preventing gender-based wage discrimination; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Notably, the act does not make an employer who |
|
|
violates the equal pay provisions of the act liable for |
|
|
compensatory or punitive damages; such limitations on civil |
|
|
penalties in the act deprive women subjected to wage discrimination |
|
|
of full relief and substantially limit the deterrent effect of the |
|
|
act; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Equally problematic is a loophole in the act that |
|
|
allows an employer to justify unequal pay if the pay disparity is |
|
|
based on "any factor other than sex"; courts have found that such a |
|
|
factor need not be related to the job position or even |
|
|
business-related; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Moreover, the act does not prevent an employer from |
|
|
using the wage or salary history of a prospective employee to make |
|
|
hiring and compensation decisions about the prospective employee |
|
|
and does not protect employees who talk about salary information in |
|
|
the workplace; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, To address these and other barriers to achieving pay |
|
|
parity, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 7, the |
|
|
Paycheck Fairness Act, on March 27; the bill was read for the second |
|
|
time in the U.S. Senate on April 3; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, H.R. 7 protects the rights of employees to discuss |
|
|
and disclose wage information in the workplace, prevents employers |
|
|
from relying on a prospective employee's wage or salary history in |
|
|
employment decisions, requires employers to provide job-related |
|
|
reasons for a difference in wages, and makes uncapped compensatory |
|
|
and punitive damages available in a civil suit brought by a victim |
|
|
of pay discrimination or by the secretary of labor; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In addition, H.R. 7 authorizes the secretary of |
|
|
labor to establish a grant program to provide training on |
|
|
negotiation skills and requires the secretary to conduct studies |
|
|
and provide information to employers, labor organizations, and the |
|
|
public on ways to eliminate pay disparities; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Testimony before the House Committee on Education |
|
|
and Labor showed that many women in the private and government |
|
|
sectors continue to earn significantly lower pay than men for equal |
|
|
work, and passing H.R. 7 would help to effectively eradicate such |
|
|
pay disparities; now, therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas |
|
|
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to pass H.R. 7, |
|
|
the Paycheck Fairness Act; and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
|
|
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
|
|
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
|
|
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
|
|
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
|
|
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
|
|
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |