Bill Text: TX HCR151 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging Congress to pass H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-15 - Referred to International Relations & Economic Development [HCR151 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HCR151-Introduced.html

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86R24009 CLE-D
By: Reynolds H.C.R. No. 151

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Congress first addressed the issue of unequal pay in
1963 by passing the Equal Pay Act as an amendment to the Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938; and
WHEREAS, Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, equal pay for
equal work is a fair labor standard alongside minimum wages,
overtime pay, and the protection of child laborers; and
WHEREAS, Unfortunately, weaknesses in the equal pay
provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act have made the act
ineffective in preventing gender-based wage discrimination; and
WHEREAS, Notably, the act does not make an employer who
violates the equal pay provisions of the act liable for
compensatory or punitive damages; such limitations on civil
penalties in the act deprive women subjected to wage discrimination
of full relief and substantially limit the deterrent effect of the
act; and
WHEREAS, Equally problematic is a loophole in the act that
allows an employer to justify unequal pay if the pay disparity is
based on "any factor other than sex"; courts have found that such a
factor need not be related to the job position or even
business-related; and
WHEREAS, Moreover, the act does not prevent an employer from
using the wage or salary history of a prospective employee to make
hiring and compensation decisions about the prospective employee
and does not protect employees who talk about salary information in
the workplace; and
WHEREAS, To address these and other barriers to achieving pay
parity, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 7, the
Paycheck Fairness Act, on March 27; the bill was read for the second
time in the U.S. Senate on April 3; and
WHEREAS, H.R. 7 protects the rights of employees to discuss
and disclose wage information in the workplace, prevents employers
from relying on a prospective employee's wage or salary history in
employment decisions, requires employers to provide job-related
reasons for a difference in wages, and makes uncapped compensatory
and punitive damages available in a civil suit brought by a victim
of pay discrimination or by the secretary of labor; and
WHEREAS, In addition, H.R. 7 authorizes the secretary of
labor to establish a grant program to provide training on
negotiation skills and requires the secretary to conduct studies
and provide information to employers, labor organizations, and the
public on ways to eliminate pay disparities; and
WHEREAS, Testimony before the House Committee on Education
and Labor showed that many women in the private and government
sectors continue to earn significantly lower pay than men for equal
work, and passing H.R. 7 would help to effectively eradicate such
pay disparities; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to pass H.R. 7,
the Paycheck Fairness Act; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.