“It’s a one-two punch for women, that could knock out many pay inequities,” said NOW President Kim Gandy as the U.S. House of Representatives passed two bills today that would advance fair pay for women.
The Bush administration issued the final version of a new HHS “conscience” rule — just in time to take effect on Jan 18, two days before the inauguration. This harmful regulation would require any health care entity receiving federal funds to certify in writing that none of its employees are required to assist in any way with any medical services they find objectionable.
How long do working women have to wait? And how many will be short-changed before Congress restores their ability to seek redress for pay discrimination?
It has been one year since the U.S. Supreme Court upended years of court precedent and effectively gutted a civil rights statute that gave victims of paycheck discrimination the right to sue their employers. In the decision, a 5-4 majority of the Court said that Lilly Ledbetter should have made her claim within 180 days of the company’s first offense — her first discriminatory paycheck — nearly 20 years earlier.
Today the House of Representatives recognized Alice Paul for her role in winning women’s suffrage by passing legislation to award her the Congressional Gold Medal. Paul was one of the leading figures responsible for the passage of the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote and penned the early version of the Equal Rights Amendment that would enshrine women in the Constitution. This long overdue honor recognizes Alice Paul as one of the great women in history for her work to promote women’s rights, freedom and equality.
“Lilly Ledbetter and millions of women like her may never recover the pay they lost during their lifetimes,” says NOW president Kim Gandy. “But NOW calls on the Senate to pass the Fair Pay Act to ensure that pay discrimination victims get their fair day in court.”
Tell the Senate to vote No on the SAVE America Act.