Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: Women have entered the workforce in record numbers over the past 50 years. Despite the enactment of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, many women continue to earn significantly lower pay than men for equal work. These pay disparities exist in both the private and governmental sectors. In many instances, the pay disparities can only be due to continued intentional discrimination or the lingering effects of past discrimination. The existence of such pay disparities— depresses the wages of working families who rely on the wages of all members of the family to make ends meet; undermines women's retirement security, which is often based on earnings while in the workforce; prevents the optimum utilization of available labor resources; has been spread and perpetuated, through commerce and the channels and instrumentalities of commerce, among the workers of the several States; burdens commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce; constitutes an unfair method of competition in commerce; leads to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce; interferes with the orderly and fair marketing of goods in commerce; and in many instances, may deprive workers of equal protection on the basis of sex in violation of the 5th and 14th Amendments.
Artificial barriers to the elimination of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex continue to exist decades after the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ( 42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.). These barriers have resulted, in significant part, because the Equal Pay Act of 1963 has not worked as Congress originally intended. Improvements and modifications to the law are necessary to ensure that the Act provides effective protection to those subject to pay discrimination on the basis of their sex.
Elimination of such barriers would have positive effects, including— providing a solution to problems in the economy created by unfair pay disparities; substantially reducing the number of working women earning unfairly low wages, thereby reducing the dependence on public assistance; promoting stable families by enabling all family members to earn a fair rate of pay; remedying the effects of past discrimination on the basis of sex and ensuring that in the future workers are afforded equal protection on the basis of sex; and ensuring equal protection pursuant to Congress’ power to enforce the 5th and 14th Amendments.
The Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have important and unique responsibilities to help ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work. The Department of Labor is responsible for— collecting and making publicly available information about women’s pay; ensuring that companies receiving Federal contracts comply with anti-discrimination affirmative action requirements of Executive Order 11246 (relating to equal employment opportunity); disseminating information about women’s rights in the workplace; helping women who have been victims of pay discrimination obtain a remedy; and being proactive in investigating and prosecuting equal pay violations, especially systemic violations, and in enforcing all of its mandates.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the primary enforcement agency for claims made under the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and issues regulations and guidance on appropriate interpretations of the law. With a stronger commitment by the Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to their responsibilities, increased information as a result of the amendments made by this Act to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, wage data, and more effective remedies, women will be better able to recognize and enforce their rights.
Certain employers have already made great strides in eradicating unfair pay disparities in the workplace and their achievements should be recognized.
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