A state House panel has passed bills on party-line votes that would strengthen protections against workplace discrimination.
- One bill would lower the threshold for state anti-discrimination enforcement to businesses with as few as two employees, down from the current threshold of four.
- Another bill would tweak provisions covering gender-based wage discrimination.
- It would, for example, bar disparate wages for employees engaged in “comparable work,” as opposed to the existing standard of “equal work.”
- The measure also would boost penalties for violations from a range of $50 to $200 to a range of $2,000 to $5,000.
- Both bills were approved March 27 on a vote of 14 to 11 in the House Labor and Industry Committee, with only Democratic support.
Why is this happening: Sponsors of the gender-pay legislation cite studies demonstrating that women are typically paid less than men for the same work.
- “By backing policies like ours that promote gender equality in the workplace, we move closer to closing the gender pay gap,” state Rep. Jenn O’Mara, a Delaware County Democrat, said yesterday in a statement.
- In addition to stiffer penalties, the legislation would create a commission to study the causes of pay disparity.
- The anti-discrimination bill, meanwhile, addresses what its sponsors see as a high rate of discrimination complaints by Pennsylvania workers.
- In 2022, Pennsylvania had the fifth-highest rate of complaints, according to figures from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
- “While the Human Relations Act promotes equal opportunity for all Pennsylvanians, it is clear we must work to enhance its protections,” state Reps. Greg Scott and Maureen Madden wrote in a memo seeking support for the bill.
- In addition to lowering the threshold for enforcement, their bill would expand coverage to workers in agriculture and domestic service.
- A related bill, which also passed yesterday on a party-line vote, would require businesses to create written policies and procedures for preventing harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
Is there opposition: Yes
- In advance of yesterday’s vote, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry issued memos warning about the potentially negative consequences of the legislation.
- The chamber said it supports equal pay for equal work, as required under federal law.
- But it warned that the proposed standard of “comparable work” would be vaguer and more subjective than the current standard.
- The chamber also argued the bill would end exceptions under which pay disparities might be OK, such as a raise for an employee being wooed by a competitor.
- “This legislation will expose honest, law-abiding employers to lawsuits and severe penalties, which may particularly harm small businesses,” chamber lobbyist Alex Halper wrote in the memo.
- Startups and other small businesses, meanwhile, could be hurt by a lower threshold for applying anti-discrimination laws, Halper argued. They may lack the resources or extensive employment record to defend themselves.
- “We don’t doubt the positive intentions behind this proposal, but we have concerns about the unintended consequences,” Halper wrote.
What’s next: While the bills are likely to keep moving through the Democratic-controlled state House, they may face stiffer headwinds in the GOP-controlled Senate.
