From The ACLU Blog: https://www.aclu.org/blog/womens-rights/celebrate-womens-equality-day-support-equal-pay-today
By Lenora M. Lapidus
08/26/2013
On this Women’s Equality Day – the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote – I’m struck by all the ways in which women have yet to attain equality. Also, because this August 26 comes two days before the 50th Anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, I’m reflecting on all the ways in which Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of racial equality and social justice remains a dream unrealized. As we celebrate the major changes that have occurred in the United States since 1963, and recall the sense of community that permeated the Washington Mall that hot summer day, I am saddened by the fact that African American women still earn only 64 cents for every dollar earned by white men, women are still under-represented in the higher paid male-dominated occupations or pushed out when they become pregnant, and domestic workers – the vast majority of whom are women of color – are still excluded from basic labor law protections such as overtime.
In addition to being the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, this year also marks the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, which President Kennedy signed to ensure that women would be paid the same as men for the same work. To celebrate that half-century mark, on June 10, 2013, fifteen national, regional and state-based women’s rights organizations from around the country came together and launched the Equal Pay Today! Campaign. The EPT! Platform identifies five areas of employer practices that contribute to the gender wage gap. To ensure that women earn 100 cents for every dollar earned by men, we must end the following employment practices: less pay for the same job, occupational segregation, pay secrecy, pregnancy discrimination and lack of paid sick/family leave, and wage theft/minimum wage violations.
The EPT! Campaign is working to end these discriminatory employment practices by pushing for policy change at both the federal and state level. For example, the federal Paycheck Fairness Act will close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and prohibit retaliation against employees who discuss their wages. Similarly, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act will require employers to make the same accommodations for pregnant workers that they make for other employees who are similarly temporarily unable to perform all aspects of their jobs. At the same time, we are working with advocates in states around the country to push for legislative and executive branch action to address the gender wage gap and bringing litigation under state laws that are more protective than their federal counterparts.
A growing number of states provide greater protections for pregnant and nursing women in the workplace. Under Connecticut’s pregnancy accommodation law, employers are required to, among other things, make a “reasonable effort to transfer a pregnant employee to any suitable temporary position.” Armed with this state law, Annie Balcastro was able to fight back against a police department policy that effectively pushed her out of the workplace when she was pregnant. An officer in Wallingford’s Police Department, Annie requested a light-duty accommodation during her pregnancy. Under the Wallingford Police Department policy, police officers could take paid leave for on-duty injuries, while pregnant officers had to work full duty or go onto unpaid leave. In 2012, with the help of the ACLU, the ACLU of Connecticut, and the law firm Outten and Golden LLP, Officer Balcastro filed a complaint against the Wallingford Police Department claiming that the Department refused to give her a light-duty assignment or transfer her to a suitable temporary position, forcing her to take unpaid leave during her pregnancy instead. On May 3, 2013, a settlement was reached on Annie’s behalf with the Department.
Continue reading at: https://www.aclu.org/blog/womens-rights/celebrate-womens-equality-day-support-equal-pay-today
