On April 9, the Senate rejected, by a vote of 53-44, a motion to end debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 2199). The procedural vote, also known as cloture, requires that at least 60 senators vote in favor of ending debate, thus clearing the measure for a floor vote. On April 1, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held a hearing on a similar bill, S. 84, also called the Paycheck Fairness Act (see The Source, 4/4/14).
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), would prohibit employer retaliation for employee complaints about wage discrimination, or where employees ask about, discuss, or disclose wages with each other. Employers who violate the law would be subject to compensatory and punitive damages. Among other provisions, employers would be required to demonstrate that wage differentials between male and female employee are “not based upon or derived from a sex-based differential in compensation, [are] job-related with respect to the position in question, and [are] consistent with business necessity.”
