Once again our all-knowing leaders are getting ready to come to the rescue of the damsels in distress. Spurred by the erroneous idea that women face rampant pay discrimination Congress has passed a bill called the Paycheck Fairness Act to protect women from pay discrimination in the work place.
There is the usual claim that women are paid only 77% as much for their work as men so more laws are needed. If this were actually true, then business could save 23% of their labor costs by hiring women instead of men. It would be almost impossible for a man to find a job until all available women had been hired.
Obviously, this is not the case. The reason women are paid less is due to other factors such as the fact that some women are more heavily involved in child rearing and taking care of their homes than the men. This means that on the average women have less job exposure and commitment than men. Studies have shown that when these factors are properly accounted for that women do as well as men in the market place.
There are already several laws and regulations in place to prevent pay discrimination for minorities and women. There is Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawing discrimination against women and minorities. In 1978, Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and a host of other acts. This legislation seems quite adequate to handle any real pay discrimination.
The lawmakers are ignoring the facts. Passing the PFA would make it harder for employers to prove that the pay differentials are not due to bias. Class action lawsuits against employers are extended so that all women would be included whether or not they opted to be. The act also provides for compensatory and punitive damages without limit.
This law, if passed, would materially raise the cost of hiring women and thus make it harder for women to find jobs.
This law would punish almost everybody including the women it is supposed to be helping. The only possible winners in this fiasco would be the lawyers.