THE HONORABLE VICTORIA A. LIPNIC
ACTING CHAIR
U.S. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
CONTACT:
Kimberly Smith-Brown
Christine Nazer
James Ryan
202-663-4191
newsroom@eeoc.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 2018
STATEMENT OF
THE HONORABLE VICTORIA
A. LIPNIC
ACTING CHAIR
U.S. EQUAL
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
EQUAL PAY DAY
APRIL 10, 2018
Today,
April 10, we recognize Equal Pay Day -- the point of time in the calendar year
when, after adding up the wages of all working women, their median wage equals
that of the median wage of working men from the prior year. In other words, only after working the first
four months of the new year do working women start to catch up. And that is only If we separate out women of
color -- their Equal Pay Day is months even further into the year.
Equal
Pay Day was first started in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity to
highlight the gap between men and women's wages. Long before that, in 1963, the nation made it
a matter of federal law that there must be
equal pay for equal work. Still,
fifty-five years later, we at the EEOC continue to see discriminatory pay
practices that disregard the concept of equal pay for equal work.
We
don’t just decry pay discrimination, we combat it over and over. Just a few examples:
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A Texas business
that provides logistics, transportation and warehouse services to manufacturers
and retailers paid $45,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit after the Commission
alleged that it paid a female director less than three male directors. When her
male counterparts were fired, she was put back into the job but paid a lower
annual salary. The woman complained to her supervisors who refused to do
anything about it.
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A Los Angeles
concrete liner company paid $105,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit that alleged
that it paid a female sales representative less than a male counterpart in the
same job in base pay. The EEOC also contended that the company required the
female sales representative to sell more to earn the same commission as her
male colleague. After the woman
complained about the discrepancy, instead of rectifying matters, the company
assigned her a less lucrative sales territory, increased her personal sales
goal, and monitored her computer and cell phone usage.
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A Virginia
janitorial services company paid more the $35,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit
that charged that it paid a female porter a lower wage than her male
counterpart. The suit further alleged
that after the woman complained about the discrepancy and asked that her wages
be increased, the company retaliated by assigning her more work, verbally
harassing her, and ultimately firing her.
I
remain committed to the EEOC’s push for equal pay and have worked to ensure
that our agency remains a leader in this area.
Over the past two years EEOC has worked diligently to enforce federal
laws prohibiting pay discrimination, resolving more than 5,000 charges alleging
pay discrimination on the basis of sex and recovering approximately $40 million
through the administrative process and litigation. I am immensely proud of the work we have
done, and commend each and every member of the EEOC’s staff who has contributed
to these efforts. Yet while we have made
great strides, it is clear that there remains much work to be done.
Best
regards,
Victoria
A. Lipnic
Acting
Chair
President John F. Kennedy signs the Equal Pay Act in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, D.C., 1963.
Others (L-R): Senator Wayne Morse (Oregon); Senator Winston L. Prouty (Vermont); Representative Florence Price Dwyer (New Jersey); President of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), Dorothy Height; former Director of the Women's Bureau in the Department of Labor, Mary Anderson; Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards, Esther Peterson; Director of Research and Program Resources for the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), Ethlyn Christensen; Representative Carlton Sickles of Maryland (partially hidden behind Ms. Christensen); President of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), Pearl Larner Willen; Representative Leonor K. Sullivan (Missouri); Senator Maurine Neuberger of Oregon (partially hidden). Photo on display in the EEOC Training Center.
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