President Barack Obama delivers remarks commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, in the East Room of the White House, June 10, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza).
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Dear Friend,
June 10th marked the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Equal Pay Act. Throughout the month of June, the Women’s Bureau engaged in reflections on women’s progress in the last 50 years, but also emphasized how much work is still left to be done before women can realize full equality in the workforce.
The National Equal Pay Task Force, whose members include the Women’s Bureau and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, released a new report that addresses the status of equal pay for women and the persistent challenges that remain today. Across the nation, the Women’s Bureau’s staff co-hosted a number of local events in collaboration with community-based organizations, advocacy groups and federal agency partners.
In San Francisco, we hosted a panel discussion on pay discrimination and its intersection with other issues, such as retaliation and discussing wages. In Atlanta, we participated in two events, one of which the Women’s Bureau was honored for its efforts to promote pay equity. And in San Jose, we presented at an employer focused event about best practices on how and why compensation matters to everyone who plays a part in determining wages.
And we continue our call for passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which will strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and give women the tools they need to fight pay discrimination. Among other things, it would ban retaliation against workers who ask about or discuss their wages. Many of the nation’s workers are either forbidden or discouraged from discussing salary information with their colleagues.
For example:
Tabatha Wagner learned that she was paid less than a male colleague who was hired after her at Hyundai Ideal Electric Company. After she raised the issue, she was fired in retaliation for complaining. The EEOC sued, and in May 2011, Hyundai Ideal Electric agreed to pay $188,000 to Ms. Wagner to settle the lawsuit. As part of the settlement, the company also agreed to provide training for all human resource personnel and employees at their Mansfield, Ohio facility, to help prevent future violation of federal employment discrimination laws.
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 Members of the Bay Area Equal Pay Collaborative pose with Equal Pay Advocate Lilly Ledbetter (front). From left to right: Linda Li, EEOC; Ana Victoria Fortes, Region IX Women's Bureau; Carla Collins and Esthr Perales-Deickmann, Santa Clara County Office of Women's Policy; and Joan Goddard; Coalition for Equal Pay.
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Share Our Resources
Read Recent DOL Blog Posts
- Check out the Labor Department’s blog about how far we’ve come and still have to go to close the persistent pay gap.
- Read Pat Shiu’s blog on why the controversial response about income inequality at the June 16 Miss USA competition is still worth answering.
- And learn about some of the most common pay gap myths and realities in Pam Coukos’ myth busting blog.
Sincerely,
Latifa Lyles
Acting Director, Women’s Bureau
U.S. Department of Labor
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