Obama To Move Toward Equal Pay For Women By Executive Orders

We know Congress won’t do it, so the president will take two steps this coming week to help women move toward equal pay.

To help address that issue, Obama on Tuesday will sign an executive order to prevent federal contractors from “retaliating” against workers who discuss their compensation.

“The executive order does not compel workers to discuss pay nor require employers to publish or otherwise disseminate pay data,” the official said. “But (it) does provide a critical tool to encourage pay transparency, so workers have a potential way of discovering violations of equal pay laws and (are) able to seek appropriate remedies.”

Obama also will direct the U.S. secretary of labor to create regulations that require federal contractors to submit to the government summary data on employee compensation including details on sex and race.

The Labor Department would use such data to encourage voluntary compliance with equal pay laws, the official said.

The move comes ahead of consideration in the U.S. Senate for the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would update equal pay laws by barring all employers – not just federal contractors – from punishing workers who share information about their pay.

 

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.