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First Complaint of Wage Inequality
A letter was sent to the editor of the New York Times questioning why female government employees were not paid the same as male ones. It explained, "Many of these women are now performing the same grade of work at $900 per annum for which men receive $1800. Most of them, too, have families to support; being nearly all either widow or orphans made by the war." -
Strike at Western Union Telegraph Company
The intent of this strike was to secure equal pay for male and female employees of the company. The strike ultimately failed but it still brought attention to the issue. -
New York Teachers Get Equal Pay
After a long contentious battle with the school board, New York teachers were finally granted equal pay. -
National War Labor Board urged employers in 1942 to voluntarily make "adjustments which equalize wage or salary rates paid to females with the rates paid to males for comparable quality and quantity of work on the same or similar operations."
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Equal Pay Act of 1963
President John F Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law. This act. It is meant to combat discrimination within wages in the work place. Kennedy called it a significant step forward. -
Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that jobs need to be "substantially equal" but not "identical" to fall under the protection of the Equal Pay Act. An employer cannot, for example, change the job titles of women workers in order to pay them less than men. -
Corning Glass Works v. Brennan
U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers cannot justify paying women lower wages because that is what they traditionally received under the "going market rate." A wage differential occurring "simply because men would not work at the low rates paid women" was unacceptable. -
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
The alternate title for this bill is: An Act to amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.
Unfortunately, there are some downsides. Employers with fewer than 15 employees are exempted from the Act.Employers are exempt from providing medical coverage for elective abortions, unless the mother's life is threatened, but are required to provide disability and sick leave for women who are recovering from an abortion. -
Family and Medical Leave act of 1993
An Act To grant family and temporary medical leave under certain circumstances allowed both mothers and fathers to take time off to deal with family needs. -
First Equal Pay Day
This is the day this year when women's earning from last year have finally caught up to their male counterparts. It is always held on a Tuesday to symbolize the two extra days a woman must work to match her male counterparts' earnings from last week. -
Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
This is one of the landmark cases for the wage gap. Ledbetter was consistently paid lower than her fellow male supervisors. She sued Goodyear for this discrimination and lost. In a 5-4 decision the court decided that Ledbetter's claim was time-barred by Title VII's limitations period. -
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
"The Act restores longstanding law and helps to ensure that individuals subjected to unlawful pay discrimination are able to effectively assert their rights under the federal anti-discrimination laws. Under the Act, each discriminatory paycheck (rather than simply the original decision to discriminate) resets the 180-day limit to file a claim." -
Equal Pay Day 2018
It took 100 days into 2018 for women to catch up to their male counterparts' earnings from 2017.
