II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1115
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective
remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the
basis of sex, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH25, 2025
Mrs. M
URRAY(for herself, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. ALSOBROOKS, Ms. BALDWIN,
Mr. B
ENNET, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. BLUNTROCHESTER, Mr. BOOKER,
Ms. C
ANTWELL, Mr. COONS, Ms. CORTEZMASTO, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr.
D
URBIN, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr. GALLEGO, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. HAS-
SAN, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. KAINE, Mr.
K
ELLY, Mr. KIM, Mr. KING, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. MARKEY,
Mr. M
ERKLEY, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. OSSOFF, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. PETERS,
Mr. R
EED, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SCHUMER, Mrs.
S
HAHEEN, Ms. SLOTKIN, Ms. SMITH, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Mr. WARNER,
Mr. W
ARNOCK, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr.
W
YDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide
more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in
the payment of wages on the basis of sex, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Paycheck Fairness 2
Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4
Congress finds the following: 5
(1) Women have entered the workforce in 6
record numbers over the past 50 years. 7
(2) Despite the enactment of the Equal Pay Act 8
of 1963 (Public Law 88–38), many women continue 9
to earn significantly lower pay than men for equal 10
work. These pay disparities exist in both the private 11
and governmental sectors. Pay disparities are espe-12
cially severe for women and girls of color. 13
(3) In many instances, the pay disparities can 14
only be due to continued intentional discrimination 15
or the lingering effects of past discrimination. After 16
controlling for educational attainment, occupation, 17
industry, union status, race, ethnicity, and labor 18
force experience roughly 40 percent of the pay gap 19
remains unexplained. 20
(4) The existence of such pay disparities— 21
(A) depresses the wages of working fami-22
lies who rely on the wages of all members of the 23
family to make ends meet; 24
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(B) undermines women’s retirement secu-1
rity, which is often based on earnings while in 2
the workforce; 3
(C) prevents women from realizing their 4
full economic potential, particularly in terms of 5
labor force participation and attachment; 6
(D) has been spread and perpetuated, 7
through commerce and the channels and instru-8
mentalities of commerce, among the workers of 9
the several States; 10
(E) burdens commerce and the free flow of 11
goods in commerce; 12
(F) constitutes an unfair method of com-13
petition in commerce; 14
(G) tends to cause labor disputes, as evi-15
denced by the tens of thousands of charges filed 16
with the Equal Employment Opportunity Com-17
mission against employers between 2010 and 18
2016; 19
(H) interferes with the orderly and fair 20
marketing of goods in commerce; and 21
(I) in many instances, may deprive workers 22
of equal protection on the basis of sex in viola-23
tion of the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the 24
Constitution of the United States. 25
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(5)(A) Artificial barriers to the elimination of 1
discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis 2
of sex continue to exist decades after the enactment 3
of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 4
201 et seq.) and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 5
U.S.C. 2000a et seq.). 6
(B) These barriers have resulted, in significant 7
part, because the Equal Pay Act of 1963 has not 8
worked as Congress originally intended. Improve-9
ments and modifications to the law are necessary to 10
ensure that the Act provides effective protection to 11
those subject to pay discrimination on the basis of 12
their sex. 13
(C) Elimination of such barriers would have 14
positive effects, including— 15
(i) providing a solution to problems in the 16
economy created by unfair pay disparities; 17
(ii) substantially reducing the number of 18
working women earning unfairly low wages, 19
thereby reducing the dependence on public as-20
sistance; 21
(iii) promoting stable families by enabling 22
all family members to earn a fair rate of pay; 23
(iv) remedying the effects of past discrimi-24
nation on the basis of sex and ensuring that in 25
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the future workers are afforded equal protection 1
on the basis of sex; and 2
(v) ensuring equal protection pursuant to 3
Congress’ power to enforce the Fifth and 14th 4
Amendments to the Constitution of the United 5
States. 6
(6) The Department of Labor and the Equal 7
Employment Opportunity Commission carry out 8
functions to help ensure that women receive equal 9
pay for equal work. 10
(7) The Department of Labor is responsible 11
for— 12
(A) collecting and making publicly avail-13
able information about women’s pay; 14
(B) disseminating information about wom-15
en’s rights in the workplace; 16
(C) helping women who have been victims 17
of pay discrimination obtain a remedy; and 18
(D) investigating and prosecuting systemic 19
gender based pay discrimination involving gov-20
ernment contractors. 21
(8) The Equal Employment Opportunity Com-22
mission is the primary enforcement agency for 23
claims made under the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and 24
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issues regulations and guidance on appropriate in-1
terpretations of the law. 2
(9) Vigorous implementation by the Depart-3
ment of Labor and the Equal Employment Oppor-4
tunity Commission, increased information as a result 5
of the amendments made by this Act, wage data, 6
and more effective remedies, will ensure that women 7
are better able to recognize and enforce their rights. 8
(10) Certain employers have already made 9
great strides in eradicating unfair pay disparities in 10
the workplace and their achievements should be rec-11
ognized. 12
SEC. 3. ENHANCED ENFORCEMENT OF EQUAL PAY RE-13
QUIREMENTS. 14
(a) B
ONAFIDEFACTORDEFENSE ANDMODIFICA-15
TION OFSAMEESTABLISHMENTREQUIREMENT.—Section 16
6(d)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 17
U.S.C. 206(d)(1)) is amended— 18
(1) by striking ‘‘No employer having’’ and in-19
serting ‘‘(A) No employer having’’; 20
(2) by striking ‘‘any other factor other than 21
sex’’ and inserting ‘‘a bona fide factor other than 22
sex, such as education, training, or experience’’; and 23
(3) by adding at the end the following: 24
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‘‘(B) The bona fide factor defense described in sub-1
paragraph (A)(iv) shall apply only if the employer dem-2
onstrates that such factor (i) is not based upon or derived 3
from a sex-based differential in compensation; (ii) is job- 4
related with respect to the position in question; (iii) is con-5
sistent with business necessity; and (iv) accounts for the 6
entire differential in compensation at issue. Such defense 7
shall not apply where the employee demonstrates that an 8
alternative employment practice exists that would serve 9
the same business purpose without producing such dif-10
ferential and that the employer has refused to adopt such 11
alternative practice. 12
‘‘(C) For purposes of subparagraph (A), employees 13
shall be deemed to work in the same establishment if the 14
employees work for the same employer at workplaces lo-15
cated in the same county or similar political subdivision 16
of a State. The preceding sentence shall not be construed 17
as limiting broader applications of the term ‘establish-18
ment’ consistent with rules prescribed or guidance issued 19
by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.’’. 20
(b) N
ONRETALIATIONPROVISION.—Section 15 of the 21
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 215) is 22
amended— 23
(1) in subsection (a)— 24
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(A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘em-1
ployee has filed’’ and all that follows and insert-2
ing ‘‘employee— 3
‘‘(A) has made a charge or filed any com-4
plaint or instituted or caused to be instituted 5
any investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action 6
under or related to this Act, including an inves-7
tigation conducted by the employer, or has tes-8
tified or is planning to testify or has assisted or 9
participated in any manner in any such inves-10
tigation, proceeding, hearing or action, or has 11
served or is planning to serve on an industry 12
committee; or 13
‘‘(B) has inquired about, discussed, or dis-14
closed the wages of the employee or another 15
employee (such as by inquiring or discussing 16
with the employer why the wages of the em-17
ployee involved are set at a certain rate or sal-18
ary);’’; 19
(B) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 20
the end; 21
(C) in paragraph (6), by striking the pe-22
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 23
(D) by adding at the end the following: 24
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‘‘(7) to require an employee to sign a contract 1
or waiver that would prohibit the employee from dis-2
closing information about the employee’s wages.’’; 3
and 4
(2) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(c) Subsection (a)(3)(B) shall not apply to instances 6
in which an employee who has access to the wage informa-7
tion of other employees as a part of such employee’s essen-8
tial job functions discloses the wages of such other employ-9
ees to individuals who do not otherwise have access to such 10
information, unless such disclosure is in response to a 11
complaint or charge or in furtherance of an investigation, 12
proceeding, hearing, or action under section 6(d), includ-13
ing an investigation conducted by the employer. Nothing 14
in this subsection shall be construed to limit the rights 15
of an employee provided under any other provision of 16
law.’’. 17
(c) E
NHANCEDPENALTIES.—Section 16(b) of the 18
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(b)) is 19
amended— 20
(1) by inserting after the first sentence the fol-21
lowing: ‘‘Any employer who violates section 6(d) 22
shall additionally be liable for such compensatory 23
damages, or, if the employee demonstrates that the 24
employer acted with malice or reckless indifference, 25
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punitive damages as may be appropriate, except that 1
the United States shall not be liable for punitive 2
damages.’’; 3
(2) in the sentence beginning ‘‘An action to’’, 4
by striking ‘‘the preceding sentences’’ and inserting 5
‘‘any of the preceding sentences of this subsection’’; 6
(3) in the sentence beginning ‘‘No employees 7
shall’’, by striking ‘‘No employees’’ and inserting 8
‘‘Except with respect to class actions brought to en-9
force section 6(d), no employee’’; 10
(4) by inserting after the sentence referred to 11
in paragraph (3), the following: ‘‘Notwithstanding 12
any other provision of Federal law, any action 13
brought to enforce section 6(d) may be maintained 14
as a class action as provided by the Federal Rules 15
of Civil Procedure.’’; and 16
(5) in the sentence beginning ‘‘The court in’’— 17
(A) by striking ‘‘in such action’’ and in-18
serting ‘‘in any action brought to recover the li-19
ability prescribed in any of the preceding sen-20
tences of this subsection’’; and 21
(B) by inserting before the period the fol-22
lowing: ‘‘, including expert fees’’. 23
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(d) ACTION BY THESECRETARY.—Section 16(c) of 1
the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(c)) 2
is amended— 3
(1) in the first sentence— 4
(A) by inserting ‘‘or, in the case of a viola-5
tion of section 6(d), additional compensatory or 6
punitive damages, as described in subsection 7
(b),’’ before ‘‘and the agreement’’; and 8
(B) by inserting before the period the fol-9
lowing: ‘‘, or such compensatory or punitive 10
damages, as appropriate’’; 11
(2) in the second sentence, by inserting before 12
the period the following: ‘‘and, in the case of a viola-13
tion of section 6(d), additional compensatory or pu-14
nitive damages, as described in subsection (b)’’; 15
(3) in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘the first 16
sentence’’ and inserting ‘‘the first or second sen-17
tence’’; and 18
(4) in the sixth sentence— 19
(A) by striking ‘‘commenced in the case’’ 20
and inserting ‘‘commenced— 21
‘‘(1) in the case’’; 22
(B) by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; 23
or’’; and 24
(C) by adding at the end the following: 25
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‘‘(2) in the case of a class action brought to en-1
force section 6(d), on the date on which the indi-2
vidual becomes a party plaintiff to the class action.’’. 3
SEC. 4. TRAINING. 4
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 5
and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, 6
subject to the availability of funds appropriated under sec-7
tion 11, shall provide training to Commission employees 8
and affected individuals and entities on matters involving 9
discrimination in the payment of wages. 10
SEC. 5. NEGOTIATION SKILLS TRAINING. 11
(a) P
ROGRAMAUTHORIZED.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor, 13
after consultation with the Secretary of Education, 14
is authorized to establish and carry out a grant pro-15
gram. 16
(2) G
RANTS.—In carrying out the program, the 17
Secretary of Labor may make grants on a competi-18
tive basis to eligible entities to carry out negotiation 19
skills training programs for the purposes of address-20
ing pay disparities, including through outreach to 21
women and girls. 22
(3) E
LIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to re-23
ceive a grant under this subsection, an entity shall 24
be a public agency, such as a State, a local govern-25
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ment in a metropolitan statistical area (as defined 1
by the Office of Management and Budget), a State 2
educational agency, or a local educational agency, a 3
private nonprofit organization, or a community- 4
based organization. 5
(4) A
PPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 6
grant under this subsection, an entity shall submit 7
an application to the Secretary of Labor at such 8
time, in such manner, and containing such informa-9
tion as the Secretary of Labor may require. 10
(5) U
SE OF FUNDS.—An entity that receives a 11
grant under this subsection shall use the funds made 12
available through the grant to carry out an effective 13
negotiation skills training program for the purposes 14
described in paragraph (2). 15
(b) I
NCORPORATINGTRAININGINTOEXISTINGPRO-16
GRAMS.—The Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of 17
Education shall issue regulations or policy guidance that 18
provides for integrating the negotiation skills training, to 19
the extent practicable, into programs authorized under— 20
(1) in the case of the Secretary of Education, 21
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 22
1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), the Carl D. Perkins 23
Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 24
U.S.C. 2301 et seq.), the Higher Education Act of 25
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1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), and other programs 1
carried out by the Department of Education that the 2
Secretary of Education determines to be appro-3
priate; and 4
(2) in the case of the Secretary of Labor, the 5
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 6
U.S.C. 3101 et seq.), and other programs carried 7
out by the Department of Labor that the Secretary 8
of Labor determines to be appropriate. 9
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 10
date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 11
the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the Secretary 12
of Education, shall prepare and submit to Congress a re-13
port describing the activities conducted under this section 14
and evaluating the effectiveness of such activities in 15
achieving the purposes of this section. 16
SEC. 6. RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND OUTREACH. 17
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 18
the date of enactment of this Act, and periodically there-19
after, the Secretary of Labor shall conduct studies and 20
provide information to employers, labor organizations, and 21
the general public concerning the means available to elimi-22
nate pay disparities between men and women (including 23
women who are Asian American, Black or African Amer-24
ican, Hispanic American or Latino, Native American or 25
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Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 1
White American), including— 2
(1) conducting and promoting research to de-3
velop the means to correct expeditiously the condi-4
tions leading to the pay disparities, with specific at-5
tention paid to women and girls from historically 6
underrepresented and minority groups; 7
(2) publishing and otherwise making available 8
to employers, labor organizations, professional asso-9
ciations, educational institutions, the media, and the 10
general public the findings resulting from studies 11
and other materials, relating to eliminating the pay 12
disparities; 13
(3) sponsoring and assisting State, local, and 14
community informational and educational programs; 15
(4) providing information to employers, labor 16
organizations, professional associations, and other 17
interested persons on the means of eliminating the 18
pay disparities; and 19
(5) recognizing and promoting the achievements 20
of employers, labor organizations, and professional 21
associations that have worked to eliminate the pay 22
disparities. 23
(b) R
EPORT ONGENDERPAYGAP INTEENAGE 24
L
ABORFORCE.— 25
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(1) REPORT REQUIRED .—Not later than one 1
year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 2
Secretary of Labor, acting through the Director of 3
the Women’s Bureau and in coordination with the 4
Commissioner of Labor Statistics, shall— 5
(A) submit to Congress a report on the 6
gender pay gap in the teenage labor force; and 7
(B) make the report available on a publicly 8
accessible website of the Department of Labor. 9
(2) E
LEMENTS.—The report under paragraph 10
(1) shall include the following: 11
(A) An examination of trends and potential 12
solutions relating to the teenage gender pay 13
gap. 14
(B) An examination of how the teenage 15
gender pay gap potentially translates into 16
greater wage gaps in the overall labor force. 17
(C) An examination of overall lifetime 18
earnings and losses for informal and formal 19
jobs for women, including women of color. 20
(D) An examination of the teenage gender 21
pay gap, including a comparison of the average 22
amount earned by males and females, respec-23
tively, in informal jobs, such as babysitting and 24
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other freelance jobs, as well as formal jobs, 1
such as retail, restaurant, and customer service. 2
(E) A comparison of— 3
(i) the types of tasks typically per-4
formed by women from the teenage years 5
through adulthood within certain informal 6
jobs, such as babysitting and other free-7
lance jobs, and formal jobs, such as retail, 8
restaurant, and customer service; and 9
(ii) the types of tasks performed by 10
younger males in such positions. 11
(F) Interviews and surveys with workers 12
and employers relating to early gender-based 13
pay discrepancies. 14
(G) Recommendations for— 15
(i) addressing pay inequality for 16
women from the teenage years through 17
adulthood, including such women of color; 18
(ii) addressing any disadvantages ex-19
perienced by young women with respect to 20
work experience and professional develop-21
ment; 22
(iii) the development of standards and 23
best practices for workers and employees 24
to ensure better pay for young women and 25
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the prevention of early inequalities in the 1
workplace; and 2
(iv) expanding awareness for teenage 3
girls on pay rates and employment rights 4
in order to reduce greater inequalities in 5
the overall labor force. 6
SEC. 7. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL AWARD FOR 7
PAY EQUITY IN THE WORKPLACE. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is established the Secretary 9
of Labor’s National Award for Pay Equity in the Work-10
place, which shall be awarded, on an annual basis, to an 11
employer to encourage proactive efforts to comply with 12
section 6(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 13
U.S.C. 206(d)), as amended by this Act. 14
(b) C
RITERIA FORQUALIFICATION.—The Secretary 15
of Labor shall set criteria for receipt of the award, includ-16
ing a requirement that an employer has made substantial 17
effort to eliminate pay disparities between men and 18
women, and deserves special recognition as a consequence 19
of such effort. The Secretary shall establish procedures for 20
the application and presentation of the award. 21
(c) B
USINESS.—In this section, the term ‘‘employer’’ 22
includes— 23
(1)(A) a corporation, including a nonprofit cor-24
poration; 25
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(B) a partnership; 1
(C) a professional association; 2
(D) a labor organization; and 3
(E) a business entity similar to an entity de-4
scribed in any of subparagraphs (A) through (D); 5
(2) an entity carrying out an education referral 6
program, a training program, such as an apprentice-7
ship or management training program, or a similar 8
program; and 9
(3) an entity carrying out a joint program, 10
formed by a combination of any entities described in 11
paragraph (1) or (2). 12
SEC. 8. COLLECTION OF PAY INFORMATION BY THE EQUAL 13
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION. 14
Section 709 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 15
U.S.C. 2000e–8) is amended by adding at the end the fol-16
lowing: 17
‘‘(f)(1) Not later than 18 months after the date of 18
enactment of this subsection, the Commission shall pro-19
vide for the collection from employers of compensation 20
data and other employment-related data (including hiring, 21
termination, and promotion data) disaggregated by the 22
sex, race, and ethnic identity of employees. 23
‘‘(2) In carrying out paragraph (1), the Commission 24
shall have as its primary consideration the most effective 25
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and efficient means for enhancing the enforcement of Fed-1
eral laws prohibiting pay discrimination. For this purpose, 2
the Commission shall consider factors including the impo-3
sition of burdens on employers, the frequency of required 4
reports (including the size of employers required to pre-5
pare reports), appropriate protections for maintaining 6
data confidentiality, and the most effective format to re-7
port such data. 8
‘‘(3)(A) For each 12-month reporting period for an 9
employer, the compensation data collected under para-10
graph (1) shall include, for each range of taxable com-11
pensation described in subparagraph (B), disaggregated 12
by the categories described in subparagraph (E)— 13
‘‘(i) the number of employees of the employer 14
who earn taxable compensation in an amount that 15
falls within such taxable compensation range; and 16
‘‘(ii) the total number of hours worked by such 17
employees. 18
‘‘(B) Subject to adjustment under subparagraph (C), 19
the taxable compensation ranges described in this sub-20
paragraph are as follows: 21
‘‘(i) Not more than $19,239. 22
‘‘(ii) Not less than $19,240 and not more than 23
$24,439. 24
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‘‘(iii) Not less than $24,440 and not more than 1
$30,679. 2
‘‘(iv) Not less than $30,680 and not more than 3
$38,999. 4
‘‘(v) Not less than $39,000 and not more than 5
$49,919. 6
‘‘(vi) Not less than $49,920 and not more than 7
$62,919. 8
‘‘(vii) Not less than $62,920 and not more than 9
$80,079. 10
‘‘(viii) Not less than $80,080 and not more 11
than $101,919. 12
‘‘(ix) Not less than $101,920 and not more 13
than $128,959. 14
‘‘(x) Not less than $128,960 and not more than 15
$163,799. 16
‘‘(xi) Not less than $163,800 and not more 17
than $207,999. 18
‘‘(xii) Not less than $208,000. 19
‘‘(C) The Commission may adjust the taxable com-20
pensation ranges under subparagraph (B)— 21
‘‘(i) if the Commission determines that such ad-22
justment is necessary to enhance enforcement of 23
Federal laws prohibiting pay discrimination; or 24
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‘‘(ii) for inflation, in consultation with the Bu-1
reau of Labor Statistics. 2
‘‘(D) In collecting data described in subparagraph 3
(A)(ii), the Commission shall provide that, with respect 4
to an employee who the employer is not required to com-5
pensate for overtime employment under section 7 of the 6
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 207), an 7
employer may report— 8
‘‘(i) in the case of a full-time employee, that 9
such employee works 40 hours per week, and in the 10
case of a part-time employee, that such employee 11
works 20 hours per week; or 12
‘‘(ii) the actual number of hours worked by 13
such employee. 14
‘‘(E) The categories described in this subparagraph 15
shall be determined by the Commission and shall in-16
clude— 17
‘‘(i) race; 18
‘‘(ii) ethnic identity; 19
‘‘(iii) sex; and 20
‘‘(iv) job categories, including the job categories 21
described in the instructions for the Equal Employ-22
ment Opportunity Employer Information Report 23
EEO–1, as in effect on the date of the enactment 24
of this subsection. 25
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‘‘(F) The Commission shall use the compensation 1
data collected under paragraph (1)— 2
‘‘(i) to enhance— 3
‘‘(I) the investigation of charges filed 4
under section 706 or section 6(d) of the Fair 5
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 6
206(d)); and 7
‘‘(II) the allocation of resources to inves-8
tigate such charges; and 9
‘‘(ii) for any other purpose that the Commission 10
determines appropriate. 11
‘‘(G) The Commission shall annually make publicly 12
available aggregate compensation data collected under 13
paragraph (1) for the categories described in subpara-14
graph (E), disaggregated by industry, occupation, and 15
core based statistical area (as defined by the Office of 16
Management and Budget). 17
‘‘(4) The compensation data under paragraph (1) 18
shall be collected from each employer that— 19
‘‘(A) is a private employer that has 100 or 20
more employees, including such an employer that is 21
a contractor with the Federal Government, or a sub-22
contractor at any tier thereof; or 23
‘‘(B) the Commission determines appropriate.’’. 24
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SEC. 9. REINSTATEMENT OF PAY EQUITY PROGRAMS AND 1
PAY EQUITY DATA COLLECTION. 2
(a) B
UREAU OFLABORSTATISTICSDATACOLLEC-3
TION.—The Commissioner of Labor Statistics shall con-4
tinue to collect data on women workers in the Current 5
Employment Statistics survey. 6
(b) O
FFICE OFFEDERALCONTRACTCOMPLIANCE 7
P
ROGRAMSINITIATIVES.—The Director of the Office of 8
Federal Contract Compliance Programs shall ensure that 9
employees of the Office— 10
(1)(A) shall use the full range of investigatory 11
tools at the Office’s disposal, including pay grade 12
methodology; 13
(B) in considering evidence of possible com-14
pensation discrimination— 15
(i) shall not limit its consideration to a 16
small number of types of evidence; and 17
(ii) shall not limit its evaluation of the evi-18
dence to a small number of methods of evalu-19
ating the evidence; and 20
(C) shall not require a multiple regression anal-21
ysis or anecdotal evidence for a compensation dis-22
crimination case; 23
(2) for purposes of its investigative, compliance, 24
and enforcement activities, shall define ‘‘similarly 25
situated employees’’ in a way that is consistent with 26
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and not more stringent than the definition provided 1
in item 1 of subsection A of section 10–III of the 2
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Com-3
pliance Manual (2000), and shall consider only fac-4
tors that the Office’s investigation reveals were used 5
in making compensation decisions; and 6
(3) shall implement a survey to collect com-7
pensation data and other employment-related data 8
(including hiring, termination, and promotion data) 9
and designate not less than half of all nonconstruc-10
tion contractor establishments each year to prepare 11
and file such survey, and shall review and utilize the 12
responses to such survey to identify contractor es-13
tablishments for further evaluation and for other en-14
forcement purposes as appropriate. 15
(c) D
EPARTMENT OF LABORDISTRIBUTION OF 16
W
AGEDISCRIMINATIONINFORMATION.—The Secretary of 17
Labor shall make readily available (in print, on the De-18
partment of Labor website, and through any other forum 19
that the Department may use to distribute compensation 20
discrimination information), accurate information on com-21
pensation discrimination, including statistics, explanations 22
of employee rights, historical analyses of such discrimina-23
tion, instructions for employers on compliance, and any 24
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other information that will assist the public in under-1
standing and addressing such discrimination. 2
SEC. 10. PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO PROSPECTIVE EM-3
PLOYEES’ SALARY AND BENEFIT HISTORY. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Fair Labor Standards Act of 5
1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by inserting 6
after section 7 the following new section: 7
‘‘SEC. 8. REQUIREMENTS AND PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO 8
WAGE, SALARY, AND BENEFIT HISTORY. 9
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—It shall be an unlawful practice 10
for an employer to— 11
‘‘(1) rely on the wage history of a prospective 12
employee in considering the prospective employee for 13
employment in a position as an employee who in any 14
workweek is engaged in commerce or in the produc-15
tion of goods for commerce, or is employed in an en-16
terprise engaged in commerce or in the production 17
of goods for commerce, including requiring that a 18
prospective employee’s prior wages satisfy minimum 19
or maximum criteria as a condition of being consid-20
ered for such employment; 21
‘‘(2) rely on the wage history of a prospective 22
employee in determining the wages for such prospec-23
tive employee for a position described in paragraph 24
(1) of the employer, except that an employer may 25
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rely on wage history if it is voluntarily provided by 1
a prospective employee, after the employer makes an 2
offer of employment in such a position with an offer 3
of compensation to the prospective employee for such 4
position, to support a wage higher than the wage of-5
fered by the employer; 6
‘‘(3) seek from a prospective employee for a po-7
sition described in paragraph (1) or any current or 8
former employer of such prospective employee the 9
wage history of the prospective employee, except that 10
an employer may seek to confirm prior wage infor-11
mation only after an offer of employment for such 12
a position with compensation has been made to the 13
prospective employee and the prospective employee 14
responds to the offer by providing prior wage infor-15
mation to support a wage higher than that offered 16
by the employer; or 17
‘‘(4) discharge or in any other manner retaliate 18
against any employee or prospective employee for a 19
position described in paragraph (1) because the em-20
ployee or prospective employee— 21
‘‘(A) opposed any act or practice made un-22
lawful by this section; or 23
‘‘(B) took an action for which discrimina-24
tion is forbidden under section 15(a)(3). 25
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‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘wage 1
history’ means the wages paid to the prospective employee 2
by the prospective employee’s current employer or previous 3
employer.’’. 4
(b) P
ENALTIES.—Section 16 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 5
216) is amended by adding at the end the following new 6
subsection: 7
‘‘(f)(1) Any person who violates the provisions of sec-8
tion 8 shall— 9
‘‘(A) be subject to a civil penalty of $5,000 for 10
a first offense, increased by an additional $1,000 for 11
each subsequent offense, not to exceed $10,000; and 12
‘‘(B) be liable to each employee or prospective 13
employee who was the subject of the violation for 14
special damages not to exceed $10,000 plus attor-15
neys’ fees, and shall be subject to such injunctive re-16
lief as may be appropriate. 17
‘‘(2) An action to recover the liability described in 18
paragraph (1)(B) may be maintained against any em-19
ployer (including a public agency) in any Federal or State 20
court of competent jurisdiction by any one or more em-21
ployees or prospective employees for and on behalf of— 22
‘‘(A) the employees or prospective employees; 23
and 24
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‘‘(B) other employees or prospective employees 1
similarly situated.’’. 2
(c) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 10 of the 3
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 210) is re-4
pealed. 5
SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 6
(a) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 7
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 8
necessary to carry out this Act. 9
(b) P
ROHIBITION ONEARMARKS.—None of the funds 10
appropriated pursuant to subsection (a) for purposes of 11
the grant program in section 5 of this Act may be used 12
for a congressional earmark as defined in clause 9(e) of 13
rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 14
SEC. 12. SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE. 15
(a) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This Act and the amend-16
ments made by this Act shall take effect on the date that 17
is 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 18
(b) T
ECHNICALASSISTANCEMATERIALS.—The Sec-19
retary of Labor and the Commissioner of the Equal Em-20
ployment Opportunity Commission shall jointly develop 21
technical assistance material to assist small enterprises in 22
complying with the requirements of this Act and the 23
amendments made by this Act. 24
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(c) SMALLBUSINESSES.—A small enterprise shall be 1
exempt from the provisions of this Act, and the amend-2
ments made by this Act, to the same extent that such en-3
terprise is exempt from the requirements of the Fair 4
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) pur-5
suant to clauses (i) and (ii) of section 3(s)(1)(A) of such 6
Act (29 U.S.C. 203(s)(1)(A)). 7
SEC. 13. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 8
Nothing in this Act, or in any amendments made by 9
this Act, shall affect the obligation of employers and em-10
ployees to fully comply with all applicable immigration 11
laws, including being subject to any penalties, fines, or 12
other sanctions. 13
SEC. 14. SEVERABILITY. 14
If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 15
this Act, or the application of that provision or amend-16
ment to particular persons or circumstances is held invalid 17
or found to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, 18
the amendments made by this Act, or the application of 19
that provision to other persons or circumstances shall not 20
be affected. 21
Æ
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