I had been working at my last job for about three years when the company hired someone in a peer position. I found out months later that he was making a good $10K more than me. At the time I was ticked off but ended up shrugging and saying to myself, "What can I do about it?"
It turns out there is something you can do about it: MomsRising says "The Supreme Court's ruling in Ledbetter vs. Goodyear
that discrimination claims must be made within 180 days after the pay
is set is a major setback in women's rights. How many of us know what
our co-workers make? In fact, many employers forbid employees from
discussing their pay, making it all the more difficult to discover pay
discrimination within the short time frame now required by the Supreme
Court."
A bill has been introduced in Congress that would reverse Ledbetter: H.R. 2831. It won't completely erase the pervasive discrimination that exists in the workplace, but it certainly will help. And moms need all the help they can get: mothers are 79% LESS likely to be hired than non-mothers with identical resumes! Not only that, but mothers make 73 cents to a man's dollar (as opposed to 90 cents for non-moms)!
It's easy to do your part to fight this discrimination: send a letter to your congressperson by clicking here and tell them to vote YES on H.R. 2831.
Are you experiencing discrimination in the workplace, or do you know someone who is? You can contact the Center for WorkLife Law Hotline at 1-800-981-9495 or send an email.
