Culver inks wage equality bill
Framing it as continuation of Iowa’s “progressive history,” Iowa Gov. Chet Culver signed an anti-wage discrimination bill into law Tuesday.
“Our state has a long history of identifying, and protecting the rights of individuals, not just in the workplace, but in every field,” he said in a statement at the signing ceremony. “Wage discrimination is wrong. From this day forward, discrimination of this nature is, plain and simple, illegal.”
The legislation signed Tuesday would prohibit wage discrimination under the Iowa Civil Rights Act and provide penalties for noncompliance.
The bill received more support in the House, passing 87-7 earlier this month. The Senate approved the bill by a 32-17 vote. All five area legislators backed the measure.
While noting intentionally discriminatory employers are typically the exception, Rep. Vicki Lensing, D-Iowa City, lauded the new law.
“It’s really about equity for all workers,” said Lensing, who was on the bill’s House subcommittee. “If you do the same work in the same circumstances, you should be paid equitably to another employee.”
Full-time women workers’ median weekly earnings are approximately 80 percent of those for men, according to the United States Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau,
Lisa Heineman, a UI associate professor of women’s studies and history, agreed with Lensing.
“If there’s legislation but no one’s discriminating anyway, no harm done,” she wrote in an e-mail. “But more frequently, legislation [and enforcement] is necessary. After all, if an employer can legally get away with paying less, why pay more?”
Heineman specifically pointed to the case of Lilly Ledbetter, whose 2007 wage-discrimination case before the Supreme Court ultimately failed. In that case, justices ruled 5-4 that Ledbetter’s employer, Goodyear, wasn’t liable for the alleged wage discrimination because Ledbetter didn’t file a claim within 180 days.
Both federal and state legislation — including Iowa now — has altered that, making it a violation each time non-equitable, discriminatory wages are paid.
But business groups across the country have assailed attempts to change current law, including in Iowa.
John Gilliland, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, criticized the new law, arguing there “wasn’t a reason to create more litigation.”
Eschewing the notion that intentional sex discrimination is the primary cause of wage disparity, Gilliland instead pointed to merits, seniority, and “different career paths based on different circumstances.”
“There have been a number of different wage-discrimination laws on the books for many, many years,” he said. “I think even advocates for the bill will tell you that discrimination is a very small reason for any wage disparity.”
The new law states that seniority, merit, productivity, and other nondiscriminatory pay disparities are acceptable.
A related bill passed by the Legislature attempts to promote balance between the sexes on locally appointed government boards.
Culver, who is expected to sign the piece of legislation, has 30 days after the completion of a legislative session to sign bills into law.
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