Hickenlooper, Colleagues Reintroduce Bill to Address Wage Discrimination, Close Gender Pay Gap

WASHINGTON – Today, on Equal Pay Day, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper joined the entire Senate Democratic caucus to reintroduce the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would combat pay discrimination and help close the gender pay gap.

“Equal work should always mean equal pay,” said Hickenlooper. “Yet, women still earn less for the same jobs. It’s way past time we fixed that and made sure everyone is paid fairly.” 

Congress passed the Equal Pay Act in 1963 to prohibit sex-based wage discrimination. However, the gender wage gap still exists and, for the first time in 20 years, widened in 2023. On average, women were typically paid 75 cents for every dollar paid to a man in 2023, which averaged to be more than $14,000 in actual pay difference.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 to end pay secrecy policies and strengthen available resources to ensure wronged employees can challenge pay discrimination and hold employers accountable. Hickenlooper previously introduced the legislation in the last Congress.

Specifically, the Paycheck Fairness Act would:

• Require employers to prove that pay disparities exist for legitimate, job-related reasons and are not gender-based disparities

• Ban retaliation against workers who discuss their wages

• Remove obstacles in the Equal Pay Act to facilitate participation in class action lawsuits that challenge systemic pay discrimination, by allowing workers to opt-out, rather than requiring them to opt-in

• Improve the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) and Department of Labor’s (DOL) tools for enforcing the Equal Pay Act by requiring the collection of compensation data from certain employers, including federal contractors

• Provide assistance to all businesses to help them with their equal pay practices, recognize excellence in pay practices by businesses, and  empower women and girls by creating a negotiation skills training program

• Prohibit employers from seeking the salary history of prospective employees

The full text of the Paycheck Fairness Act is HERE.

###