Sen. Murray’s equal pay bill passes in La. Senate

18th May 2015   ·   0 Comments

By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer

On May 12, the Louisiana State Senate passed SB 219, an equal pay bill sponsored by Sen. Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, and designed to prevent gender-based pay discrimination in the workforce.

“We cannot sit by while women and their families struggle to make ends meet when policies and law can make a difference,” said Lynda Woolard, president of the Independent Women’s Organization. “Our state has been going in the wrong direction for years…Women in Louisiana make on average a lower ratio of what men make than anywhere in the United States.”

According to stats compiled by Beth Willinger, Ph.D, Louisiana women earn on average 67 cents on the dollar compared to men. Taken on a parish-by-parish basis, Orleans has the best number at 80 cents, followed closely by Jefferson at 79 cents. The worst number is in Assumption at 45 cents.

Caucasian women on average earn 69.7 percent of what Cau­casian men make in Louisiana. African-American women make 49.7 percent of what white males earn. The percentages for Asian-American and Hispanic women are 61.3 percent and 53.6 percent, respectively.

Julie Schwam Harris, the co-chair of the Legislative Agenda for Women, emphasized that the bill establishes a process for resolving complaints and allegations of discrimination that helps parties avoid going to court. She said a common complaint among the bill’s detractors is that it will encourage lawsuits. But Harris said this is not the goal of the bill and not a realistic fear.

“We believe that lawsuits rarely benefit those employees just trying to get fair wages – they are costly and time consuming and people can’t afford to engage in them for frivolous or unfounded reasons,” said Harris.

Two years ago, Act 374 established SB 219’s basic complaint process for state employees. SB 219 will expand that to include Louisiana workers. Camille Moran, Louisiana Pay Equity Lobbying Director, said no equal pay lawsuits have been filed since that law took effect.

The complaint resolution process has multiple parts. First, if an employee feels she is being unfairly paid on the basis of her gender, she must write a letter to employer stating her case. The employer must respond in a timely manner. If the employer agrees, the issue ends right there.

If that doesn’t resolve the problem, the employee can request an independent third party evaluation from the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights. If the arbitrator rules in favor of the employee, it sends a strong message to the employer that the issue needs to be rectified. But if the employee loses, it will likely make the employee realize that the case would probably not hold up in a court of law. However, if either party wants to go to court, they still have the right to do that.

Harris said it’s important to keep the employers involved in the process. She believes that most companies don’t intentionally discriminate. There can be a number of factors involved, from employees being hired at different times to outdated attitudes on gender (e.g. ignoring the fact that many women are now heads of household in a way that wasn’t the case decades ago). But just because it’s unintentional doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be resolved.

“The fact of discrimination is the problem (not intent),” Harris said. “You don’t need to go to court. What you need is the proactive involvement of the employer in establishing equal pay.”

The bill’s protections do not apply only to women. If a man feels he is being discriminated against because of his gender, he can also seek a resolution via the bill’s procedure.

“This is equal pay for equal work for everyone,” Moran said.

Advocates of the bill say equal pay is not just good for women; it’s good for the state’s economy for a variety of a reasons.

“It improves employee morale and retention, and helps the bottom line,” said Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce. “It puts more money in the family’s pockets to purchase goods and services otherwise not afforded.”

The next step for the bill is the House Labor Committee. The committee could vote on the bill as early as this week. Harris advised women across Louisiana to contact the members of the committee and make their voices heard on the issue. Contact information for these legislators can be found at legis.la.gov (click on house committees, then click on labor committee).

“Women need to be given a chance; this legislation needs to be given a chance,” Moran said. “It’s a step in the right direction. We want to keep the momentum going.”

Phone calls to Sen. Murray’s office were not returned at press time.

This article originally published in the May 18, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.