EEOC “Celebrates” Equal Pay Day

By R. Joseph Leibovich
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The EEOC has noted that today is Equal Pay Day for 2015.  Equal Pay Day is the day into a new year that, on average, a woman must work to equal the wages paid to a man in just the prior year.  In other words, according to the EEOC, if a statistically average man and a woman both started work on January 1, 2014, the woman would have to work until April 14, 2015 to make the same amount of money the man did in just 2014.

This is based on statistical data which shows, nationwide, women make on average 78.3 cents for each dollar a man makes.

To address the disparity in pay, the EEOC has put out a fact sheet on Equal Pay, which can be found here.  The EEOC notes that wage disparity “not only includes discrimination in the regular rate of pay but also in overtime pay, bonuses, stock options, profit-sharing and bonus plans, life insurance, vacation and holiday pay, cleaning or gasoline allowances, hotel accommodations, reimbursement for travel expenses, and other benefits.”

Of course, the 78.3 cent figure is a national average. CNN has put together a chart showing the average disparity state by state.  Women in Tennessee, for example, make on average 82.7 cents for ever dollar men earn.

EEOC chair, Jenny Yang this week sent out a message indicating that the EEOC has taken and will continue to take action to address pay disparity through education and enforcement procedures.

According to Ms. Yang, employers can, and should, take the following steps to help eliminate pay disparity:

– Evaluate compensation systems annually and take action to correct problems;

– Designate individuals to monitor pay practices;

– Provide training to supervisors;

– Ensure that job related criteria are used to determine base pay, raises, overtime, and bonuses and in making decisions about performance evaluations, job assignments, and promotions;

– Set starting salaries that eliminate discriminatory pay gaps on the basis of prior salary or salary negotiations.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)

Employers should carefully look at their pay practices to make sure that they have not unintentionally created pay practices that maintain or widen the gender gap in pay instead of reducing it.