President to issue executive order prohibiting retaliation against employees of federal contractors who discuss salary; Pingree and her colleagues asked Obama to make that change
On Equal Pay Day, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree welcomed an executive order by President Obama today banning retaliation against employees of federal contractors who discuss their salaries. Pingree and female colleagues in the House had written to Obama in January urging him to issue such an order.
One of the first bills that Pingree voted for in Congress—and the first that President Obama signed—was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The law makes it easier for women to recover lost wages to discrimination. But Pingree says many women don't know that discrimination is happening.
"Wage discrimination is still a problem in the workplace but many women may not even know they are making less than their male counterparts. Nearly half of all workers in the country are either prohibited or strongly discouraged from discussing their pay," Pingree said. "If you don't know you are being discriminated against, it's impossible to do something about it."
In January, Pingree and over 50 of her female colleagues in the House wrote to President Obama (letter attached) asking him to issue a federal order banning retaliation against employees of federal contractors who discuss their pay. The President will that order at a ceremony at the White House this morning.
"In Maine, women still make only 79 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn," Pingree said. "That's not just a women's issue, it's a family issue. “Families increasingly rely on women’s wages to make ends meet. When women bring home less money each day, it means they have less for the everyday needs of their families—groceries, rent, child care, doctors’ visits.”
Pingree has sponsored and been a strong supporter of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which strengthens and closes loopholes in the 1963 Equal Pay Act. It provides effective remedies to women who are not being paid equal pay for equal work. The bill passed twice while Democrats controlled the House, but in this session of Congress Republican leaders have refused to allow it to come up for a vote. Nearly 200 members of the House have signed a petition demanding that the bill be brought up for a vote.
