Paycheck Fairness Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. STEFANIK. Madam Chair, I thank my good friend, Ranking Member Foxx.

Madam Chair, there are nearly 75 million women working in the United States, the most in our Nation's history. Thanks to our strong economy, nearly 3 million jobs were created in the last year, and of those jobs, 58 percent went to women.

Women are graduating from college at a higher rate than their male counterparts and are increasingly their family's primary breadwinner. Despite all of these positive economic indicators, there remains evidence that in some cases women do not earn the same levels of compensation as men.

Republicans strongly support equal pay for equal work, and we owe it to women to constructively engage on this important issue and put forward solutions to strengthen existing law.

Democrats have put forth a bill that prioritizes trial attorneys and government regulation over women's economic empowerment. The Democratic bill, for the first time, would require data disclosure to the EEOC that collects compensation data broken down by the sex, race, and national origin of employees, while also tracking the hiring, termination, and promotion data of those employees.

These intrusions into the operations of private businesses would add compliance costs exceeding $700 million per year. And on top of these onerous new requirements, H.R. 7 is a giveaway to trial attorneys by changing class action formation from opt in, to opt out.

America's businesses will need to prepare for an onslaught of frivolous lawsuits which now will be open to unlimited compensatory and punitive damages.

The bill establishes an impossibly high burden of proof for employers defending the legitimacy of any pay differentials between employees. We need to recognize that in today's modern economy, 40 percent of small businesses are run by women. This bill would make it harder for these women business leaders.

This issue is far too important to leave to partisan solutions. That is why today I am proud to introduce the Wage Equity Act with over 40 of my colleagues, which offers a stark contrast to the partisan approach laid out in H.R. 7. We looked to innovation in the States to find consensus, bipartisan policies that were supported by both Republicans and Democrats, and signed by Republican Governors, proof that equal pay for equal work is not a partisan issue, and that Republicans are, indeed, leading the way on women's economic opportunity.

The Wage Equity Act is reflective of the modern workforce and supports the empowerment of women in today's economy. Specifically, my legislation allows employees to negotiate voluntary, flexible work arrangements. These dynamic compensation models empower the individual to seek the work arrangement that works best in their own life and for their own family.

America's businesses, in particular our small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy, they seek to do right by their employees. In recognition of this, the Wage Equity Act creates a self-audit system for voluntary pay analysis by businesses.

Under our proposal, a business could and should undergo a pay analysis to proactively rectify pay disparity should it exist. By creating this environment of consistent self-reflection, we can further empower businesses to do what they already seek to do, doing right not only for their employees, but following the law.

Madam Chair, I believe that an individual should be able to negotiate employment based upon their qualifications and merit for the position. I also believe that the victim of wage discrimination at any point in their career should not have to have this discrimination follow them to their next job and compound throughout the rest of their career.

That is why my bill protects the employee's right to not disclose their salary history during the job interview process unless they wish to voluntarily disclose it.

We must acknowledge the compounding impact of wage discrimination on a person's career and be willing to discuss ideas to free employees from this burden.

At the same time, we cannot erode the necessary negotiation that takes place in a job interview or ignore the role wage figures can play in advancement of an individual through their career.

The Wage Equity Act protects the ability for an employee and their perspective employer to have a wage expectation conversation, an important part of any negotiation.

My legislation protects an employee's ability to discuss compensation with their colleagues, while giving the employers the ability to set reasonable limitations on the time, location, and manner of this activity to protect employees from harassment.

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Ms. STEFANIK. Madam Chair, furthermore, the Wage Equity Act seeks to put women on equal footing with men as they start their careers.

The legislation provides for a grant program targeted toward women in college and career tech programs to provide negotiation skills education.

Lastly, my bill directs the GAO to study the manager's gap. We know that the wage gap greatly expands for women after they return to the workforce following parental leave. We must have a clear sense of the impact that leave during this time will have on an employee's future earning and opportunity potentials.

These are commonsense proposals that are supported by Democrats and Republicans. I encourage my colleagues to reject Big Government overreach, and find practical, bipartisan solutions that improve and strengthen the existing law of the land: equal pay for equal work.

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