Republicans Block DeLauro Effort To End Pay Secrecy Among DHS Contractors

Statement

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) offered an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill today that would ban retaliation against employees of DHS contractors or subcontractors who disclose their salary information. It was gutted by a Republican majority that has steadfastly refused to address the realities of pay discrimination. Pay secrecy is a main reason why, fifty years after the Equal Pay Act, women are still only paid 77 cents on the dollar for the same job as men. The amendment includes an exception for employees whose essential job function involves wage information, like human resource employees.

"Unequal pay is not just a problem for women. When women bring home smaller paychecks, it harms the entire family, when millions are already struggling to get by. But in order to detect and combat pay discrimination, employees must be able to share salary information with their coworkers without fear of punishment.

"Banning retaliation for wage disclosure should be federal policy, and apply to all who do business with the federal government. Unfortunately my colleagues today chose not to give women the tools to combat pay discrimination. Fear of retaliation only exacerbates the many hurdles that employees face in knowing about wage discrimination. Just look at Lilly Ledbetter, who found out about decades of pay discrimination only because she got an anonymous note.

"Nearly fifty years after the Equal Pay Act, it is time to end pay discrimination for good. Women across the country will not be fooled by anything less."

DeLauro, author of the Paycheck Fairness Act, is a longtime champion for equal pay and has called on the Administration to ban all government contractors from penalizing employees who share their salary. Instead of allowing a vote on the DeLauro amendment, Republicans gutted her proposal with language that only restates existing law.

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