Securing Equal Pay

Securing Equal Pay

Cecilia Munoz

Council on Women and Girls

Click the link below to view the full article!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/04/17/securing-equal-pay

"President Obama understands how much this issue impacts our nation’s economic well-being, and that’s why, from his earliest days in office, he has been committed to closing the pay gap."

The Equal Pay Task Force is a group of individuals put together by President Obama to help combat pay discrimination. These people have been brought together from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor and the Office of Personnel Management. Since the Task Force was assembled in 2010 they have recovered large amounts of money owed to women due to pay discrimination. They have also improved inter-agency coordination and collaboration. They are working to focus more government attention to closing the pay gap. 

"I commend the professionals who represent the member agencies on the Task Force for the extraordinary work they and their teams undertake each day to realize the President’s directive."

The Department of Labor has also published two brochures that are being sent to employees and employers. This will help educate people of the workforce about their rights and responsibilities under the nation's equal pay laws. This will hopefully help them understand further and abide by these laws. 

The first bill that President Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It extends the time period in which pay discrimination claims can be brought in for review. This allowed countless victims to seek rectification where they previously were unable to.