Jewish Women International and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism called on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Making the call on April 9, designated Equal Pay Day, JWI urged Congress to pass the legislation, which it said would address the lingering gender wage gap by updating the 50-year-old Equal Pay Act of 1963. The Paycheck Fairness Act is designed to protect employees against retaliation for discussing salaries with colleagues and would require employers to prove that any pay disparities exist for legitimate reasons.
JWI’s executive director, Lori Weinstein, said in a statement that women “continue to experience wage discrimination in the workplace, earning
77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. In this troubled economy, women and their families can no longer afford these significant and unjust disparities.”
In a separate statement, RAC associate director Barbara Weinstein noted, “The ongoing lack of pay equity offends us as Jews and as moral people who believe in the fundamental equality between men and women and the dignity of work and fair compensation.” — j. staff n