WAGE news
$tart $mart Campus Workshops Booked for Spring 2008$tart $mart Campus Workshops Booked for Spring 2008
Over 20 colleges and universities have booked the $tart $mart Workshops for their campuses this spring. Below is the list of schools and dates. If your school is interested in having a workshop on your campus, WAGE is scheduling schools for the fall of 2008. Michigan Technical University in Houghton, Michigan is the first school on our fall schedule.
$tart $mart Campus Workshops Spring 2008
• Alfred University- Alfred, NY- March 20th
• American University- Washington, DC- April 22nd
• Babson College- Babson Park, MA- March 25th
• Bentley College- Waltham, MA- April 1st
• Boston College- Boston, MA- March 26th
• Bridgewater State College- Bridgewater, MA- April 1st
• Bryant University- Smithfield, RI- April 9th
• Casper College, Casper, Wyoming- April 1st
• Central Connecticut State University- New Britain, CT- March 12th
• Clark University- Worcester, MA- April 8th
• Dutchess County Community College- NY- March 4th
• Harvard University- Cambridge, MA- March 11th
• Hollins University- Roanoke, VA- Feb 19th
• Laramie County Community College- Cheyenne, Wyoming- March 31st
• Marist- Poughkeepsie, NY plus other area schools-March 5th
• Massassoit Community College- Massassoit, MA- April 14th
• Middlebury College- Middlebury, VT –date pending
• Northwest Community College, Powell, Wyoming- April 2nd
• Roxbury Community College- Roxbury, MA –April 8th
• University of Connecticut- Storrs, CT- March 2nd
• University of Southern Maine- Portland, ME- April 22nd
• Vassar – Poughkeepsie, NY- March 5th
• Wellesley College- Wellesley, MA- April 4th
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute – Worcester, MA- April 7th
• University of Wyoming – Laramie, Wyoming- March 28th
WAGE Is Recruiting $tart $mart Facilitators
The WAGE Project is recruiting women to be trained as facilitators during the spring workshops listed above. These facilitators will then help conduct the fall $tart $mart Campus Workshops in our ever- expanding presence on college campuses throughout America.
Qualification for being a $tart $mart workshop Facilitator
To be considered as a $mart $tart facilitator, one must have passion around the topic. Potential facilitators should also have some training experience and be recommended by their organization. Because the workshop is compact and delivers a large amount of information in a limited time, potential facilitators must be flexible and fast on their feet. They must have the ability to listen and respond to audience questions and be constantly aware of audience understanding of materials presented. The $tart $mart workshops are scripted so potential facilitators must be willing to deliver the program as written in order to ensure consistency and quality.
Those interested in becoming a $tart Smart facilitator must complete an application form and submit their resume. This information must also be accompanied by two letters of recommendation, one from the organization they represent and the other from a participant in a training or workshop they conducted. A selection team will review and evaluate all applications to ensure excellence. If you are interested in becoming a $tart $mart Workshop Facilitator, please contact Annie Houle at ahoule@wageproject.org or by phone at 207-899-2883.
WAGE Heads to Wyoming!
Annie Houle, National Director of Campus and Community Initiatives for the WAGE Project heads to Wyoming the end of March to deliver 4 $tart $mart Campus Workshops and begin a WAGE Hub there. It is appropriate that WAGE works with Wyoming as their official motto is The Equality State. Wyoming was also the first state to grant the vote to women!
The schools which are sponsoring $tart $mart workshops are:
• University of Wyoming, Laramie on March 28
• Laramie County Community College, Cheyenne on March 31
• Casper College, Casper on April 1
• Northwest Community College, Powell on April 2
The Hub date is yet to be decided. If you are in the area of one of these workshops and wish to attend, please contact Annie for more details.
$tart $mart PromoNegotiating salaries is a challenge for women at all stages of their careers, as women are less likely than men to ask for what they want. The WAGE Project piloted $tart $mart Campus Initiative on 9 college campuses in the fall of 2007 to empower young women starting their careers to avoid the gender wage gap. This initiative provided women who are college juniors and seniors with knowledge and skills when approaching the job market to negotiate salaries and benefits to receive fair and realistic compensation. Follow-up coaching and mentoring will be provided by volunteers from collaborating partners. The WAGE Project will conduct over 20 $tart $mart Workshops in the spring of 2008 in the schools listed below.
$tart $mart Campus Initiative covers the following topics in a one three hour presentation:
*The personal consequences of the gender wage gap: what a $1.2 million loss over one's working lifetime means.
*Resources for benchmarking reasonable salaries and benefits: learn about job titles, their functions and salary ranges, the impact of market realities on salaries; compare skills and accomplishments to job requirements and market to target a realistic salary range.
*Negotiation: how to aim high and be realistic; practice negotiation through role play exercises.
*Know your bottom line: develop a "bare bones" budget to pay rent, buy groceries, repay student loans, and other basic expenses.
The WAGE Project is in the process of replicating the initiative on college campuses across the country in partnership with local collaborators. The model will also be adapted and piloted for use with all working women in partnership with local YWCAs, BPW and AAUW chapters, State Commissions on Women, and other grassroots organizations serving low-income women.
Other workshops being developed and made available in 2008 are:
*Professionally $mart- These are workshops for women in specific professions. The WAGE Project has been asked to develop a workshop for benchmarking and salary negotiation for women in academia; another for women scientists, a third for women librarians and another for women attorneys. These workshops will be piloted in the next six months and focus on raises, job changes, pay equity salary adjustments, and raises associated with promotions. As we progress, we will also consider other professions that are suggested to us.
*Return $mart- These are benchmarking and salary negotiation workshops for women who are returning to work after being at home. Women who dropped out of full time work for a few years to raise children are one audience. Women who have to return to the workforce because they became widowed, their husbands became disabled, or their marriages ended in divorce or separation or other return-to-work women can benefit from these workshops.
*Working $mart- This workshop focuses on women already in the workforce who are facing discrimination and other job related issues. Benchmarking and salary negotiating will be covered in this workshop as well as other subjects that will enable this group to not only receive fair pay, promotions and benefits, but give them tools to help further their careers and address work issues successfully. This workshop should be available early spring of 2008.
We have collaborated with Salary.com, and they have developed a salary calculator that sits on our website www.wageproject.org. This is used to provide women with the salary ranges for jobs with their skills in various areas of the country. It also calculates actual salaries and discusses benefits. The calculator is used in all workshops, but can be helpful to any women considering salary negotiation.
The WAGE Project believes that reaching women with valid information and resources at the beginning of their careers will help eliminate the wage gap and enable women to reach for top salaries. We also believe that no one can negotiate until they understand their worth, their needs, the going salaries for jobs of their choice and comprehend how benefits and deductions will affect their pay check. Knowledge gives us the power to ask for what we deserve.
For additional information about the $tart $mart Campus Initiative and pilot sites or any of the other $mart Workshops, please contact Annie Houle, National Director of Campus and Community Initiatives, at ahoule@wageproject.org or by phone at 207-899-2883.
-$tart $mart Campus Workshops Spring 2008
-Alfred University- Alfred, NY- March 20
-American University- Washington, DC- April 22
-Babson College- Babson Park, MA- March 25th
-Bentley College- Waltham, MA- April 1
-Boston College- Boston, MA- March 26
-Bridgewater State College- Bridgewater, MA- April 1st
-Bryant University- Smithfield, RI- April 9th
-Central Connecticut State University- New Britain, CT- March 12th
-Clark University- Worcester, MA- April 8th
-Dutchess County Community College- NY- March 4th
-Harvard University- Cambridge, MA- March 11
-Hollins University- Roanoke, VA- Feb 19th
-Marist- Poughkeepsie, NY plus other area schools- March 5th
-Massassoit Community College- Massassoit, MA- April 14th
-Middlebury College- Middlebury, VT –date pending
-Roxbury Community College- Roxbury, MA –April 8th
-University of Connecticut- Storrs, CT- March 26
-University of Southern Maine- Portland, ME- April 22nd
-Vassar – Poughkeepsie, NY- March 5th
-Wellesley College- Wellesley, MA- April 4th
-Worcester Polytechnic Institute – Worcester, MA- April 7th
-Wyoming State University and other Wyoming Schools - March 29th-April 3rd
WAGE Announces $tart $mart Facilitator TrainingWAGE Announces $tart $mart Facilitator Training
The WAGE Project will be on 25 campuses in the spring of 2008 and are recruiting women to be trained as facilitators of the $tart $mart Campus Workshops as we spread it to additional colleges and universities across the country in the fall of 2008 and beyond.
Qualification for being a $tart $mart workshop Facilitator:
To be considered as a $mart $tart facilitator, one must have passion around the topic. Potential facilitators should also have some training experience and be recommended by their organization. Because the workshop is compact and delivers a large amount of information in a limited time, potential facilitators must be flexible and fast on their feet. They must have the ability to listen and respond to audience questions and be constantly aware of audience understanding of materials presented. The $tart $mart workshops are scripted so potential facilitators must be willing to deliver the program as written in order to ensure consistency and quality.
Those interested in becoming a $tart Smart facilitator must complete the attached application form and submit their resume. This information must also be accompanied by two letters of recommendation, one from the organization they represent and the other from a participant in a training or workshop they conducted. A selection team will review and evaluate all applications to ensure excellence.
Participant Commitment:
-Observe a $tart $mart Workshop presented by a certified trainer
-Agree to memorize and use the $tart $mart workbook and materials provided during training
-Read or skim Evelyn Murphy’s book “Getting Even”, and at least two other books on negotiation listed in the workshop materials
-Recruit two additional campuses in your area, make arrangements in conjunction with the WAGE Project and conduct presentations.
-Work with WAGE to develop additional materials as may be needed for workshops
-Complete a self evaluation of workshop facilitation and submit to the WAGE Project
Participants will receive:
-Training and support from the WAGE Project
-Complete workbook including script, Facilitator Training Guide and all needed materials
-Information about the WAGE Project, its history, mission and ongoing work
-Coaching and mentoring before and after workshops by phone and at workshop attended
-Network of peers to support ongoing work
-Tips and instructor self evaluation
If you or someone you know is interested in being considered as a facilitator, please contact Annie Houle, WAGE Project’s Director of Campus Initiatives to receive an application at ahoule@wageproject.org.
WAGE Page Year in Review2007: WAGE in Review
The WAGE Project, Inc was busy in 2007!
The year began with a national survey to hear directly from working women, in their own words, about their recent experiences with unfair or unequal treatment at work. Women's responses exceeded our expectations. Within ten weeks, more than seven hundred women had filled out the WAGE survey. Some were low and hourly wage earners like the caretaker in New Orleans and the head cashier in upstate NY; others were moderate-earning office managers, librarians, and information technology specialists; and high earning educators, physicians and lawyers. They worked in manufacturing, financial services, retail shops and communications; in hospitals, dentist's offices, health care agencies, colleges, universities, and social service organizations; and in municipal, state and federal government agencies.
The major findings were as follows:
1. 70% of respondents reported inequitable treatment at work; two out of three of whom attributed this treatment to gender bias and discrimination;
2. More than half who reported inequitable treatment and pay took no action for fear of retaliation or because they were convinced their chance to improve their situation was hopeless;
3. Less than 5% of the women who tried to get paid and treated fairly, even with solid data to make their cases, achieved the equity they sought.
4. One in five (20%) women reported leaving or planning to leave her job because of this treatment. These women reported disturbing conditions that dampened productivity, morale and commitment to their employers.
While not a random sample of all working women, the WAGE survey points out that gender discrimination is taking a serious toll on the nation's economic performance.
The survey became part of Congressional testimony for workplace reforms. WAGE President Evelyn Murphy testified in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act in both houses of Congress, the first hearings on such legislation in 14 years. On April 12th, she testified on Senate 766 before the US Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions; on July 11th, before the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Workforce Protections on House 1338. The Paycheck Fairness Act would make it illegal for employers to retaliate against workers if they discuss their salaries at work. The bill also creates incentives for training women in the skills of salary negotiation, requires the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to collect data on employer's salaries by gender, and instructs the Secretary of Labor to develop guidelines concerning jobs requiring similar skills, qualifications and experience. Passage of this legislation would greatly strengthen working women's capabilities to gain pay equity for themselves and their families.
As a result of the survey, WAGE was invited to participate in Equal Pay Day activities on the West Lawn of the US Capitol Building in Washington DC in April. Joining leaders from national organizations with whom WAGE collaborates including the National Committee on Pay Equity, the AAUW, the BPW, Murphy urged the assembled crowd to work for passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Pay Act.
WAGE worked all year on the research grant involving gender based consent decree sponsored by the Ford Foundation. WAGE is conducting this study of consent decrees as a means to inform working women about workplace practices and policies which have demonstrating effectiveness in curbing gender bias. In January, WAGE staff submitted a report to its partner in this research, the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR), on the national expert panel meeting convened in Boston late 2006 to advise us on the research design for the study. The sample of cases to be studied was selected by the research team and then the IWPR, with input from WAGE, spent the year designing research protocols for interviews.
Consent decree research is an outcome of preliminary work done by law students for WAGE during the last several years under guidance from Northeastern Law School Professor Maze-Rothstein, program director of the school's Legal Skills in Social Context (LSSC) program. In addition to their consent decree research, by spring 2007, law students in the LSSC program had added to the website detailed information concerning gender discrimination statutes in another four states. In the last three years of their collaboration, providing WAGE with 3000 hours of pro bono assistance, these students have analyzed statutes in 15 states -- AZ, CA, FL, IL, GA, MA, ME, MN, MO, NJ, NY, OH, TX, WA, WI and the District of Columbia. These pages of the WAGE website are the most thorough legal resource in the country to inform working women about their protections under state statutes.
This year's LSSC law office identified the 20+ year consent decrees involving hiring and promotional practices in Boston Police Department to eliminate racial bias as potentially valuable lessons for the consent decree research project. Students are preparing interview formats for key participants in this consent decree to be conducted in 2008.
WAGE leader Annie Houle successfully built WAGE Hubs throughout the year, engaging women from local women's organization in a variety of local educational and information efforts concerning the gender wage gap. She facilitated and supported Hub activities in metropolitan Chicago, statewide Hubs in Connecticut and Maine, regional Hubs in Massachusetts, and initiatives of local WAGE activists in upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Arizona, Rhode Island and Virginia. These grassroots initiatives are demonstrations of the many forms of concerted local efforts which raise awareness of the gender wage gap and offer women constructive ways to act on their own behalf to get paid and treated fairly. State and local chapters of YWCA, BPW, and AAUW have been tremendous partners in Hub initiatives.
Another major initiative grassroots initiative WAGE pursued this year was $TART $MART. Designed during the summer of 2007, these workshops targeted woman students about to graduate to teach them how to benchmark salaries for the jobs they want and how to negotiate to secure the best starting salaries. Evelyn Murphy and Annie Houle conducted pilot workshops on nine campuses-Babson College, Bentley College, Boston College, Boston University, Regis College, Fletcher School of Tufts University, University of Maine, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania. WAGE worked closely with Women's Studies Programs and professors, Women's Resource Centers and Career Services offices on these campuses to attract approximately 40 participants in each setting. On the strength of the evaluations submitted by students, WAGE scheduled workshops on 20
campuses for the spring of 2008 to train students and build a cadre of instructors for the fall of next year.
The co-branding of the salary calculator used in these workshops with Salary.com led our two organizations to develop a plan which will enable WAGE to promote future workshops and make individualized salary analyses more readily available to participants.
WORK $MART, a similar workshop for working women to benchmark
salaries for their current jobs, the jobs they want, and learn the skills of gaining raises, promotions and equity adjustments, is under design. WAGE is working with the New Hampshire Women's Bar, the Boston University School of Public Health professors, the American Library Association and the Cambridge, MA Chapter of American Women in Science to offer WORK $MART workshops in the spring and summer of 2008.
Katie Schindler managed the WAGE website, no small feat with over 4.8 million hits and over 83,000 visitors to the site in 2007. Once visitors get on the site, they use our information extensively! Ms. Schindler also produced our WAGE Page and reformatted it to be appealing and readable.
Under the direction of Karin Anderson, WAGE engaged in fund raising initiatives during 2007, resulting in numerous individual contributions added to the generous sustained support from the Linda Glenn Charitable Trust. Robin Hodgskin's generosity underwrote the printing and material production for the pilot $TART $MART workshops. Jessica Esch contributed- in design and financial support-the Equal Pay buttons which are in hot demand.
Finally, WAGE began reaching out to younger women. Annie Houle met with the Girl Scouts of Maine to develop a “valYOU” Patch for 2nd and 3rd grade Brownies that will address valuing self, the beginning steps of negotiation, understanding the value of money and savings, and goal setting. More on this in 2008!
Thank you for your help, support and involvement with WAGE in 2007.
We wish you health and good fortune in 2008.
WAGE Page December 16, 2007On Saturday, September 29th, 2007 Annie Houle was invited to New Britain, Connecticut by the YWCA and AAUW to help them address the issue of wage inequity in their state. A WAGE Hub was formed and now engaged in impressive work described below. We applaud CT WAGE's hard work, initiatives and progress already in getting all Connecticut women paid fairly. Special thanks to Susan Hoover who is coordinating the Hub and to Carol Virostek who orchestrated the meeting in September. This hub exemplifies the power of women and women's organizations working together in strategic grassroots initiatives to eliminate the wage gap! Here is a recent article about this WAGE Hub published in the Nutmeg News, the AAUW state newsletter.
PAY EQUITY AND THE GENDER WAGE GAP
“Just one year out of college, women working full time already earn less than their male colleagues (80 percent), even when they work in the same field. Ten years after graduation, women fall farther behind, earning only 69 percent as much as men earn.” (American Association of University Women - Educational Foundation Research Report: "Behind the Pay Gap".) Surely one of the most vexing issues for women is the wage gap and what we can do to change it.
Toward that end, AAUW is taking on an action project that is mission-based. That is, we will do things that will help women move closer to pay equity in the workplace. We're calling it CT WAGE.
On a beautiful Saturday in September more than 70 Connecticut women gathered to reflect on the wage discrimination each of us have endured. The leader was Annie Houle who is the National Director of WAGE Campus and Community Initiatives. More importantly, we began strategizing about ways to improve conditions for our daughters and granddaughters and their families. Evelyn Murphy, author of "Getting Even: Why Women Don't Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It" has written: “Over her lifetime, a woman will lose between $700,000 and $2 million. DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN TO YOU.”
The $tart $mart Campus Initiative captured the interest of many of us who want to be trained to conduct these sessions on college campuses. These seminars, developed by author Evelyn Murphy, teach women how to negotiate their first job title and salary. To be trained to be a trainer you will attend a campus seminar, review the curriculum/script, and afterward meet with Evelyn Murphy or Annie Houle to fine tune your presentation technique. There are only two criteria for being trained: be passionate about the issue of equal pay for women and have some experience conducting educational or training sessions. Plans are underway for the pilot seminar to be conducted at Central Connecticut State University in February or March. Please contact me if you'd like to participate.
Other projects branches have started include …..
- The New Britain Branch didn't waste any time getting its Essay Contest into the schools in Berlin and New Britain, and some generous AAUW members contributed the prize money.
- The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women is conducting a similar essay contest for high school students. The awardees will be recognized at the PCSW's annual Making Women Visible Day at the State Capitol in February.
- The Bridgeport Branch is organizing a panel discussion to be held in the spring that will be open to the public addressing topics such as pay equity and financial security.
- The Storrs/Willimantic Branch is working with students at Eastern Connecticut State University on the gender wage gap issue. I have been asked to be a speaker at their meeting in February.
- The Danbury Branch is working with an after-school program for middle school girls to teach them about the importance of making informed choices regarding their school work and personal conduct as it relates to their future.
- The Danbury Branch is also planning for a workshop on the issue of pay equity.
- The New London Branch is establishing a committee to plan local activities on the issue of pay equity.
The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women is taking the lead on organizing Equal Pay Day awareness on Tuesday, April 22, 2008.
Other ideas that have been suggested that could be adapted to your branch ….. To get the conversation started, book groups or school classes could read the AAUW research and Evelyn Murphy's book for discussion. You could write an OpEd piece for your local newspaper based on the research and the book.
What else can we do? The possibilities are endless. It's up to us.
Susan Hoover
CT WAGE
Coordinator
susnhoover@aol.com (mailto:susnhoover@aol.com)
For more information about these projects or how you can get involved, please contact Susan Hoover.
If your state or location is interested in forming a WAGE Hub, please contact Annie Houle at ahoule@hollins.edu (mailto:ahoule@hollins.edu).
Wage Page Page December 6, 2007This is a first in a series of WAGE Pages dedicated to women who have taken a leadership role in working with the WAGE Project to eliminate the wage gap in their unique ways.
In September of 2006, Evelyn Murphy and Annie Houle introduced the WAGE Project to a group of women in Chicago and suggested they form a WAGE Hub, a group of women’s organization and leaders dedicated to the elimination of the wage gap. According to Barbara Yong, “a spark was ignited in me that has continued to burn brighter every day. The mission of the WAGE Project -- of bringing attention to and eliminating the Wage Gap -- resonated deep within me. As a practicing attorney of over 25 years, I have personally experienced many of the inequities caused by gender discrimination. I was also naïve enough to silently put up with it. But, not any more.” With the help of Linda Henning Cohen, state president of the AAUW, Jennifer Wilkens of AAUW-IL, Jenifer Grady of ALA-APA, and several others, Barb took up the cause and became a founding member of the Illinois WAGE Hub and a spokesperson for the WAGE Project. As President of the Illinois Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW/IL), she has also made the wage gap one of the BPW’s focus issues for the year, encouraged all of the Local Organizations to join the WAGE Project and included Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It as one of the four selections in the BPW/IL book club. She has also invited Evelyn Murphy to be the keynote speaker at the BPW/IL State Convention April, 2008.
Since April of this year, Barb has spoken on the Wage Gap no less than 7 separate times at the following venues:
-AAUW State Convention - Bloomington-Normal - workshop with Linda Henning Cohen - April 28th
-Joint meeting of the LaGrange and Oak Brook BPW Clubs - Program speaker with Linda Henning Cohen – May 15th
-Illinois Wage Hub Dinner - Speaker along with Jennifer Wilkens and Linda Henning Cohen of AAUW – July 26th
-AAUW - Bloomington-Normal Women's Resources Expo at Illinois State University – Key note speaker – September 7th
-Joint meeting of AAUW and BPW in Champaign-Urbana – October 23rd
-Slivka fireside chat with women engineering students at Northwestern University – Evanston – November 26th
-Pike County BPW Meeting in Pittsfield, Illinois – December 3rd
And, still to come:
-Panelist at Eastern Illinois University on January 22nd
-Program speaker at the Charleston BPW meeting on January 22nd
-Speaker at the Downtown Chicago BPW meeting - March 13th
-Already, some of the women who have heard her speak on this issue have let Barb know that she’s made a huge difference in their salary negotiations.
Atty. Yong has also put together a packet of information that she hands out when she speaks, including a quiz on the wage gap, a summary of state and federal pay equity legislation and the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire, a couple of AAUW position papers and other recent articles and her own list of what we can do to eliminate the wage gap.
Barb says she ends each talk by telling the audience that between sharing what she knows about the wage gap and the materials she has given them in the handouts, they have just been trained to spread the message themselves.
Linda Henning Cohen, incoming AAUW/IL state president, has also been a leader in the Hub activity and recently spoke at the November Lombard and Wheaton/Glen Ellyn joint AAUW meeting on the WAGE issue. The title of the program was "Show Me the Money," and she did the WAGE quiz and talked about wage clubs.
Barb Yong will take over the leadership of the Illinois WAGE Hub from Jenifer Grady, who has headed it so ably since its inception. Jenifer has a beautiful new baby daughter, Gwen, who is getting lots of her attention now, but her mom will stay involved to see that when Gwen starts to work she will not face a wage gap.
The WAGE Project thanks Jenifer Grady for her fine leadership and congratulates Barb Yong for the significant work she is doing in Illinois to get women paid what they deserve.
Wage Page November 30, 2007WAGE Page November 30, 2007
In late November, WAGE completed its fall 2007 pilot of $TART $MART Campus Workshops to teach college women how to benchmark the salaries of the jobs they want when they graduate and how to negotiate for that salary. In all, nine colleges and universities participated involving over 300 women and 3 men of varying ethnic origins and income. On every campus, evaluations submitted by participants gave this pilot rave reviews on format, content, pace and quality of instruction. We conclude that this workshop has great value for the target audience. We also conclude from comments at the end of the evaluations that participants were grateful for the opportunity to learn benchmarking and negotiating skills which they would not otherwise have received in the course of their academic experience. Below are some comments from campuses not included in the last WAGE Page:
Bentley College- “ This is a great workshop to have, I am the type who is anxious about salary negotiation, but the workshop showed me a lot and I feel a little more comfortable about it.”
University of Pennsylvania- “This workshop was extremely helpful. I had no idea how to negotiate salaries before this but now I feel I have a great start on benchmarking my salary and beginning to think about my strengths before I start looking for a job next year.”
University of Maine, Orono- “I thought this was a great intro for women entering the working world. Gave me the confidence to go out there and discuss my stating salary and I plan to come again next week.”
University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth- “Eye opening to how you can help yourself and not feel like its fatalistic and you have no control.”
With some slight fine-tuning, WAGE plans to be on 20 campuses in the spring of 2008; and to start training instructors for a large scale campus presence in the fall of 2008. Recruitment has begun, and to date, the following schools have committed to be participants in the Spring 2008WAGEProject $tart $mart Campus Initiative:
Bentley College, Waltham, MA
Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA
Bryant University, Smithfield, RI
Clark University, Worcester, MA
Hollins University, Roanoke, VA
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
We are presently in negotiation with over 20 other schools, so if you know of a college or university that might be interested in sponsoring the $tart $mart Campus Initiative, please send the name of the school and a contact name to Annie Houle, National Director of Campus and Community Initiatives at ahoule@hollins.edu(mailto:ahoule@hollins.edu) or give her a call at 207-899-2883.
Notes: Dr. Evelyn Murphy addressed a group of college students at Regis College during a $tart $mart Campus Workshop. Annie Houle at The University of Maine in Orono, conducted a presentation to students at a recent $tart $mart Campus Workshop
Wage Page November 9, 2007Read below what some students said about $tart $mart Campus Workshops held in October 2007.
For information about how to bring the workshops to your campus, or to be trained to conduct this workshop, contact Annie Houle, National Director of WAGE Initiatives for the WAGE Project at ahoule@wageproject.org (mailto:ahoule@wageproject.org) or 207-899-2883.
Fletcher School/Tuft's University grad students:
“I think this is a very well designed program/presentation. As a graduate of a women's college [Bryn Mawr College] I would love to see the workshop offered to all female graduates."
“I like that an instructor took us online to have us check out what salaries to expect for each job. I hadn't thought much about researching potential salaries and how to negotiate the salary I deserve.”
Boston University students:
"This workshop was really fabulous. I am inspired to get my $1 million. It really helped personalizing the WAGE gap. I am really excited about the next session!"
"I think the workshop helped me get a better idea about the wage gap problem and how to better evaluate my job skills. I think I need more exposure to this issue and would like to take part in more workshops."
Boston College students:
" Excellent workshop! This will be so helpful for my job search and I feel more confident to begin."
“This was so helpful and taught me not to take the first offer, value yourself as a potential employee and get that million!"
Babson College students:
" This is very motivating. Helpful. I definitely need the courage to push this topic. I am an engineer and work in an ‘old boys club’ ".
" The tools given to me this evening I will be using during my next review. It will be even more of a tool once I graduate and look for a new job."
Regis College students:
“I enjoyed this workshop and what I learned will be extremely valuable. I know in the future I will never settle for less, but instead aim high because I deserve it."
“I think that the information and structure of this workshop was very helpful and allowed me for me to ask any questions and they were all answered.”
Wage Page October 12, 2007WAGE Connecticut Is Off and Running!
Annie Houle, National Director of WAGE Clubs and Community Initiatives addressed more than sixty women in New Britain, Connecticut on September 29th. The event’s purpose was to bring the organizations and women leaders together to form a WAGE Hub and was sponsored by CT AAUW and the YWCA New Britain. A WAGE Hub is a group of women (and men if the group chooses) who represent and are members of local organizations committed to eliminating the gender wage gap in the area encompassed by their Hub.
Representatives from over 25 organizations spent the morning learning about the gender wage gap and how it affects them personally, their families and their communities. The group then worked on plans and initiatives to address the wage gap working at tables to address the following questions:
What event or activity would we “crave to” initiate to work at eliminating the gender wage gap in our area?
Which group takes the lead? What would that group do?
What does each other group at the table contribute to this initiative? When could your group do this event or activity?
What else does your group need to make this event or activity a success?
What roadblocks might your group face, if any, to prevent it from doing the idea you proposed, and how could your table surmount such roadblocks?
At the end of the exercise, each table reported on their project and then the entire group was to select one project to begin their work. They unanimously choose all the projects, each table agreeing to take leadership on their proposal and WAGE Connecticut was born! WAGE CT joins WAGE Hubs in MA, ME, IL and another emerging in Phoenix, Arizona.
AAUW member and former Women’s Commission employee, Susan Hoover, volunteered to be the coordinator for the Hub. Proposed projects for this Hub include promoting $tart $mart Campus Workshops on all Connecticut campuses, creating a Women’s WAGE Awareness Day, letter and op-ed writing campaigns, programs for middle school children about gender equity, mock negotiation exercises and sponsoring train the trainer workshops for WAGE’s $mart workshops.
Carol Virostek, President, Connecticut AAUW was quoted as saying, "The conference to create our WAGE Hub - WAGE Connecticut - was enormously successful. With dozens of women's organizations and six colleges/universities represented - and with Susan Hoover, former staff member at the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, as our coordinator - we know we have the enthusiasm and the energy to carry out the great ideas and projects that were generated."
Many thanks to this wonderful group of women! If your region, state or organization is interested in hosting a WAGE Hub workshop, please contact Annie Houle at ahoule@wageproject.org (mailto:ahoule@wageproject.org).
Susan Hoover, new coordinator of WAGE Connecticut, pictured with Annie Houle of The WAGE Project.Carol Virostek, President, Connecticut AAUW and Robin Sharp, Co-Executive Director, YWCA New Britain Dr. Gail Nordmoe, AAUW Vice President, AAUW/CT Diversity Issues Chair, professor at Sacred Heart University. Dr. Teresa Younger - Executive Director of the CT Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. Conference attendees working to develop WAGE activities and events
WAGE Announces Start Smart ScheduleStart Smart workshops will help women get paid fairly when they graduate from college.
Start Smart Campus Workshops Fall Schedule:
Babson College, October 17th, 3 hour workshop [time undecided]
Bentley College, November 14th, 3 hour workshop- 6:30 to 9:30 PM
Boston College, October 3rd, 3 hour workshop- 6:00-9:00 PM
Boston University, October 2nd and 16th- 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Fletcher School/Tufts, October 8th and 29th- 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Howard Community College, MD, October 27th- 11AM to 1:00PM
Regis College, October 23rd and November 5th, 6:00 to 8:00 PM
University of Maine, November 7th and 14th, 6:00 to 8:00 PM
UMass/Dartmouth, November 6th and 19th, 6:00 to 8:00 PM
University of Pennsylvania, November 12th, 5:00 to 8:00 PM or 4:00 to 7:00 PM
University of Southern Maine, October 30th and November 13th [time undecided]
Please contact Annie Houle at ahoule@wageproject.org with any questions
Salary.com to Provide Salary Calculator on WAGE WebsiteIn preparation for the campus workshops this fall, salary.com has agreed to provide WAGE with a customized “salary wizard”. Students will be able to benchmark their starting salaries and get important information on salary negotiation on the wage website without being inundated with commercial appeals prevalent on business sites. The salary wizard will be available to all working women who use the WAGE website. Click here to give it a try: http://wageproject.salary.com
WAGE Project Announces Smart Start Campus InitiativeThe WAGE Project has been working on the design of WAGE Campus Workshops for pilot testing on selected campuses this fall. These workshops will help women get paid fairly when they graduate from college. We have had a very positive response as of August 1st eleven colleges and universities have signed on to partner with the WAGE Project in piloting our Smart Start Campus Initiative. We are excited that we will be piloting Start Smart at small colleges, large universities, a community college and a graduate school. At the end of these programs in December, we will work with the participating colleges and universities to fine tune the program and offer it to additional schools in the spring of 2008. We are already getting requests to be considered for the spring, so if you are interested, please let Annie Houle know by emailing her at ahoule@wageproject.org.
WAGE Page August 3, 2007
Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Passes House
On July 31, 2007 in a close vote of 225 to 199, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007. While passage of the Ledbetter Act is an important first step in returning Title VII, the law against employment discrimination, to its original intention regarding remedies for pay discrimination, there are not enough votes to override a threatened veto, and the House still has much work to do to eliminate the systemic pay discrimination faced by women workers.
So congratulations and thanks for all of us for all the hard work put in to enable this to pass! Consider thanking your representatives for their support. Keep up the great work!
Thanks to National Committee on Pay Equity
Michelle Leber, Ex Director of the NCPE wrote an excellent letter to The Honorable George Miller, Chairman, House Education and Labor Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, thanking him for his leadership in the recently passed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 2831). On behalf of the organizations listed below, she thanked him for his strong advocacy on behalf of this bill and for moving it quickly and expeditiously through the legislative process. Thank you, Mike, for your leadership and ongoing support. To read her entire letter and to view the list of organizations mentioned, please click on this link. NCPE Miller mark up letter 8-07.doc
See Women’s Business article 8-1-07: The Legacy of Lily Ledbetter
Negative Decision Turns to Positive Action
Paycheck Fairness Act: Organizations Mobilizing Women to Inform Congressional Representatives
In April 2007, WAGE was invited to testify before the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act and again in July 2007 before the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. The AAUW, National Committee on Pay Equity, BPW and other national advocacy organizations for working women are mobilizing women to meet with their Congressional representatives to urge passage of this bill in the fall. For guidance on how to meet with your Congressional Representative and Senators, please contact :
Lecia Imbery, Grassroots Coordinator
Public Policy and Government Relations
American Association of University Women Imberyl@aauw.org
Start Smart Pilot Dates Finalized for More Campuses
As of August first, eleven colleges and universities have signed on to partner with the WAGE Project in piloting our Smart Start Campus Initiative. The three schools listed below have finalized their dates and they are below.
Fletcher School/Tufts , Medford, MA– October 8 and 29
University of Maine, Orono, ME – November 7 and 14
University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME and one other I think.
We are excited that we will be piloting Start Smart at small colleges, large universities, a community college and a graduate school. At the end of these programs in December, we will work with the participating colleges and universities to fine tune the program and then offer it to additional schools in the spring of 2008. We are already getting requests to be considered for the spring, so if you are interested, please let Annie Houle know [ahoule@wageproject.org].
Salary.com to Provide Salary Calculator on WAGE Website
In preparation for the campus workshops this fall, salary.com has agreed to provide WAGE with a customized “salary wizard”. Students will be able to benchmark their starting salaries and get important information on salary negotiation on the wage website without being inundated with commercial appeals prevalent on business sites. The salary wizard will be available to all working women who use the WAGE website.
WAGE Plans for Specialized Salary Workshops in Spring 2008
Once the campus workshops are underway, WAGE plans to develop workshops for organizations with whom we work closely. Chapters of YWCA, BPW, AAUW, and American Library Association as well as an association of women scientists have indicated their interest in such specialized salary workshops.
If your group is interested in a specialized workshop, please contact Annie Houle at ahoule@wageproject.org or by phone at 207-899-2883.
Illinois WAGE Hub Hosts Successful Event
The WAGE event at O'Brien's last Thursday (7/26) in Chicago attracted a FULL house! Thanks to the diligence of AAUW and BPW and a few personal calls, there were approximately 35 women and 1 man in attendance. Everyone enjoyed the WAGE quiz and one member, Linda Henning Cohen/ AAUW managed to surprise people with most of the answers.
Attendees were riled up by Jenifer Grady, Hub coordinator and Director ALA/APA, who encouraged everyone to take the AAUW study, Behind the Pay Gap http://www.aauw.org/research/behindPayGap.cfm, as a strong topic of conversation wherever they go. She urged attendees to encourage young women to go into fields that are predominantly male and better paying, like math and science, to create high-quality part-time opportunities for mothers, and to consider models like the Best Buy Results Only Work Environment as an alternative to traditional thinking based on hours worked = productivity - http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/03/01/8401022/index.htm.
Member, Barb Yong, with the BPW, fired up the audience with her commentary on the Ledbetter decision and the fact that women are not voting as much as they used to. Jenifer also mentioned that we need to stay active and remind our sisters that change is still needed. All of that will ensure that we don't go to the "special place in hell for women who don't help each another" (Madeleine Albright)
Congratulations to you all. They are now, on to the next phase to get folks involved, perhaps hosting negotiation training.
Heightened WAGE Hub/Club Interest
The WAGE Project is getting many requests from around the country to start WAGE Hubs and Clubs. Annie Houle, National Director of WAGE Clubs and Community Initiatives, has designed a workshop on how to develop these activities in your area, and is already scheduled to give workshops in Maryland and Connecticut. If your organization or community is interested in sponsoring this workshop, please contact Annie Houle [ahoule@wageproject.org] for more information and scheduling.
WAGE WORKS WITH GIRL SCOUTS
Membership/Program Manager and Teen Specialist, Abnaki Girl Scout Council of
The Wage Project and the Girl Scout Council of Maine are working together to develop a WAGE badge. The badge will start with the Brownies (2nd and 3rd graders) and will focus on equality and self-worth. It will progress to the Ambassador level (11th and 12th graders) where activities will be more focused on negotiation skills and “learning to ask for what you are worth”. What an exciting opportunity to empower young women! Thank you to Samantha Lott, Maine, for her efforts on this project. More details to follow.
Women's Equality Day
We hope you have Women's Equality Day, August 26th, marked on your calendars. Eighty-seven years ago, on August 26, 1920, women gained the right to vote in the United States--because a single Tennessee legislator switched sides at the last moment.
11 RiverPlace 11-11 | South Portland, Maine 04106 | 207-899-2883 | wage@wageproject.org | www.wageproject.org
Interview with Dr. Evelyn MurphyListen to an interview with Dr. Evelyn Murphy and Jean Stafford of Executive Coaching for Women, Inc. by clicking on this link. http://members.jeanstafford.com/feeds/072007.mp3 The interview may also be downloaded on your MP3 player for your convenience. Enjoy!
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Evelyn Murphy Testifies on The Paycheck Fairness ActTestimony of Evelyn F. Murphy Before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
Rayburn Office Building, Room 2176 Washington, DC July 11, 2007
Chairwoman Woolsey, Congresswoman DeLauro, members of the House
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, thank you for the opportunity to testify on H.1338, the Paycheck Fairness Act.
I am Evelyn Murphy, a Ph. D. economist, President of The WAGE Project, anational nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating the gender wage gap, author of Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It, Resident Scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University, a
corporate director, and former Lt. Governor of Massachusetts.
Gender Discrimination in Today’s Workplaces and Its Cost to Working Women.
As an economist, I have been interested in the gender wage gap for almost four decades. Over those years, as I watched more women graduating from college, and more women working throughout their lives, I just assumed that we would catch up with men’s wages. I was startled in the mid-1990s when I realized that we were nowhere near parity. I have been single-mindedly scrutinizing this wage gap ever since.
My book, Getting Even -- the result of eight years of research accumulating evidence of gender wage discrimination never before assembled – reveals the extent to which this discrimination permeates the entire United States economy.
You can read about employers of all kinds who, in recent years, had to pay women employees or former employees to settle claims of gender discrimination; or judges and juries ordered them to pay up. These consequences and our current laws have not ended workplace discrimination. There continue to be barriers to hiring and
promoting qualified women; financial penalties imposed arbitrarily on pregnant women; sexual harassment by bosses and co-workers; failure to pay women the same money as men for doing the same jobs; and biases and stereotyping which may seem slight or aggravating setbacks to a woman at the time, yet also cut into her paycheck.
Inequitable treatment takes money out of a woman’s paycheck, which
accumulates into serious financial losses over the 35 years that she typically works: the young woman graduating from high school this spring will make $700,000 less than the young man receiving his high school diploma at the same time; the woman graduating from college this spring will lose $1.2 million compared to the man getting his degree along with her; and the woman with the newly minted MBA, law degree or medical degree will make $2 million less.
Women don’t realize the enormous sums that they lose to wage discrimination because they never see big bites taken out of their paychecks at any one time. Instead, little nicks in a paycheck—a promotion delayed because she is pregnant and her boss guesses (wrongly) that she intends to shift to part-time work, a sales call she misses because her boss assumes she’s going home to cook dinner for her family, her request for a different shift to escape a sexual harasser—all add up, over time to become: $700,000, $1.2 million and $2 million. Also, women do not realize how much wage discrimination hurts them because we -- Congress, policy analysts, researchers -- have yet to adequately understand and address the gender wage gap. Statisticians, try as they might, have not been able to fully “explain” the gap. Why? Isn’t it time to conclude that we are looking at inadequate data to explain this gap? The gender wage gap is not just about worker characteristics, ie. the data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau; it’s about workplace characteristics, too. It’s time to collect data as extensively about workplaces as workers.
H. 1338 is important because it finally points public attention to the right place:
the American workplace, and initiates an expanded collection of workplace data. This bill, with its emphasis on altering workplace pay practices, creates the appropriate conditions for American women to achieve gender pay equity. Working women are not looking for pay equity to be handed to them. Women can and will take responsibility for ensuring they’re paid and treated fairly. Yet employers must also take responsibility to ensure that their pay policies and practices are fair and equitable. H. 1338 helps women and employers achieve these common goals and initiates the collection of workplace pay data essential to eliminating workplace discrimination.
Prompt Action Is Important.
Prompt passage of H 1338 is very important to working women. Here’s why.
The WAGE Project surveyed working women through collaborations with several national women’s organizations -- the National Committee on Pay Equity, The Business and Professional Women, The Young Women’s Christian Association, the American Association of University Women, and the National Organization for Women. Almost 800 working women responded. These women work in every state in the nation and in
every sector of the economy. They take home small paychecks as waitresses, modest paychecks as office managers and technicians, and relatively large paychecks as senior executives, professors and physicians. While this is not a random sample of working
women, their voices offer a candid window into today’s working conditions and their recent experiences with pay inequity.
The loudest message of this survey is that women fear retaliation if they talk about their pay at work. The nonretaliation clause in Section 3 will help many women who fear firing or demotion. One college educated woman in her late 40’s said: “About three years ago I worked for a major corporation in a supervisory capacity. My staff was 47 people and my male colleague's staff was 12. His salary was $28,000, mine was $22,500… The Vice President advised me that if I told what I found out I could be fired.”
The fear factor is real. This bill will help women now silenced by fear of retaliation. Besides, fair-minded employers should want employees who suspect unfair pay to raise their questions before suspicion hardens into grievances and lawsuits and
erodes their productivity. Three out of four survey respondents reported some recent experience with unfair treatment or pay. Passage of H.1338 will give those women and others hope that working conditions will become more equitable where they now work and that they don’t have to leave their jobs. A 37 year old case worker in a nonprofit organization said “They just hired a male and asked me to train him. He is starting out making more than me. There is (sic) certain criteria you must meet for this position which he does not meet. Then they want me to train him to do the same job I am doing.” She did nothing about this “because I have to keep my job to feed my children. I am, however, looking for another job.” Typically, when women encountered blatant pay inequity, they said they decided to leave: “I quit.” “I gave notice and left one month later.” “I used up my vacation time and never went back.”
Don’t miss the financial point: it costs women money when they have to leave a job in order to be paid and treated fairly. They may lose months of income until they find another job. They lost whatever seniority they had built up with the last employer. They may have to take a pay cut if pressure to bring in a paycheck forces them
to settle for a lesser position. For women whose employers adopt and enforce the Secretary’s guidelines for pay equity, they will be working in a workplace where pay equity is not only the law, but
also, engrained in the practices of the employer and the culture of their workplace. Every employer should adopt the guidelines to be developed by the Secretary of Labor. That is the surest way to establish pay equity in every American workplace in the near future.
Passage of H. 1338 will send working women an important message: Congress recognizes their situation, is taking action to bring them data with which they can safely raise pay equity concerns with their employers, and is pressing employers to be more accountable for pay equity among their employees. In the absence of pay equity hearings,
much less legislation, over the last decade, many women have lost hope that their employers feel pressure to exercise oversight and vigilance about compliance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Pay Act.
Finally, there’s the future. I urge you to pass H.1338 to avoid an unwanted, painful legacy. We couldn’t close the wage gap even one penny from 1994 to 2004, even with the boom years of the late 1990s! The fact that the gender wage gap has been stuck tells us that there is nothing inevitable about the wage gap going away on its own if we
continue to rely only on current laws and their implementation. If we do not act, we will pass on to the next generation, and the next after that—to your daughters, and your granddaughters, nieces, aunts, and all the younger women in your families whom you
love and respect—the same financial losses working women face today. Is that a legacy you want to pass on to them? Of course not. None of us wants to. But that will happen if no action is taken to address today’s discriminatory treatment of women at work.
Some Important Recommended Changes to Specific Language in the Bill.
Section 3 Enhanced Enforcement of Equal Pay Requirements. (d Nonretaliation provision.
I have already illustrated how important this provision is to help working women act on their own behalf without fear of retaliation. Some employers may resist open discussion among employees about their salaries and pay scales as this woman confirms:
“my employer intimidates us. We don’t dare talk about what we earn while we’re working.” But those employers who do treat and pay women equitably have nothing to hide. Open discussions among employees and their employer about pay and pay scales can enable all employees to feel fairly and adequately compensated. As I have listened to
working women, they are thoughtful and fair minded about pay. More transparency about pay and pay scales in America’s workplaces would be beneficial for employers and employees alike. H. 1338 promises to open up workplaces to healthy discussions about who gets paid what and why. I urge the committee to insist on this language in the final
bill.
Section 5. Negotiation Skills Training for Girls and Women.
Here are my concerns. I leave to staff to wordsmith this section.
First, I would urge language which clarifies that Congressional intent is to focus on negotiation skills directly related to salary and total compensation matters, including not only skills in bargaining and communicating, but also, benchmarking techniques. It
would be easy for rules and regulations to interpret the current language of this section to permit a broader set of negotiating skills in financial planning, flex time and other workplace conditions. These are important matters. But the key here is to maintain the priority and focus on negotiations skills training which bear directly on a woman’s
earnings. Clarifying language to this section might not necessarily exclude these other topics involving a woman’s finances, but rather, establish that priority funding goes to training which bears directly on women’s paychecks.
Secondly, in (a) Use of Funds. In the second sentence, I would suggest substituting the words “equitable salaries and fair, equitable compensation packages for themselves” for the current language “higher salaries and the best compensation packages
possible for themselves”. The purpose of this bill is to establish pay equity. Training which focuses on women getting paid what they should, what is fair compared with others where they work given their job, experience, responsibility, etc fits with the
purpose of the bill. The current language suggests training women to get promotions
(higher salaries) and the most money (compensation package) they can. I have no doubt that once women get trained to negotiate for fair pay they will have the necessary skills for gaining more pay. The intent of this bill, as I understand it, is to help women achieve
pay equity. That, in itself, will be a significant outcome.
Finally, (c) Report. I recommend that the report include not only “describing activities conducted under this section” but also “and an evaluation of the effectiveness of these activities in enhancing equity in women’s paychecks”. An assessment of which
training programs actually advance women’s earnings and which do not is essential. Section 7. Technical Assistance and Employer Recognition Program. a) Guidelines. Voluntary guidelines are just that: voluntary. The adoption of such guidelines by every employer would dramatically advance pay equity. I urge the committee to strengthen language in this section such that employers are incentivized to adopt these guidelines and conversely, disincentivized for not adopting these guidelines after some specified period of time. (b) (2) Please insert “or layoffs of employees” after men in the clause “ ….lowering wages paid to men”. Women need men as allies in achieving fair and equitable treatment where they work. This clause is intended to make clear that neither
layoffs nor lowered wages are an acceptable means for employers to achieve pay equity.
The experience of the State of Minnesota validates this point. Minnesota achieved payequity –women employees are now paid 97 cents for every dollar men employees earn-- without one man losing a job or losing money in his paycheck. Pay equity can be
achieved not a men’s expense. Section 8. Establishment of the National Award for Pay Equity in the Workplace. (b)(1)
I urge the committee to add language which requires applicants for this award to disclose the salaries by gender and job category which were made more equitable. The language now makes it possible for an employer to describe worthy efforts but not report what, if any, actual effects its pay equity initiative had. Without documented advances, no applicant should be eligible to receive this prestigious award.
Section 9. Collection of Pay Information by the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. This section of the bill is extremely important. It has the potential to provide breakthroughs in the nation’s understanding of pay inequities in today’s workplaces and
in the nation’s capability to eliminate the discrimination which underlies pay inequity. I urge the committee to specifically guarantee access and availability of the pay information gathered under this section to researchers, public policy analysts, and social
service organizations. These professionals need this data to advance our understanding of workplace discrimination and what to do about it. While the Secretary of Labor may perform studies and inform the public under Section 6, broad based access to pay data collected in Section 9 would stimulate the cross checks and debates of data which only develop when many and varied professionals look at the same data. The standard here ought to be the accessibility that professionals now have to data gathered by Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The designation of the EEOC as lead agency for surveying available data and determining data needed to enhance their enforcement activities is appropriate.
Anticipating that some adaptation of the EEO-1 form appears the most likely means to collect pay information by gender and job title, I call to your attention how limited the
availability of EEO-1 data has been to this larger community of interests. Until 2000, EEO-1 data was unavailable to almost everyone and even now, only a handful of academics have access. The need for confidentiality concerning company specific data must be respected, but, with adequate resources, the EEOC can devise ways to enable
more researchers and practitioners to access EEO-1 data. Limited access to EEO-1 data has seriously limited public debate and policy formulation about the gender wage gap. I have tremendous sympathy for extensive enforcement mandate the EEOC implements and I do not intend this as criticism of the agency. Rather I want to ensure that, if the EEOC becomes the collector of pay information, that the agency has not only the mandate but also the resources to make this data available to a large community of analysts and practitioners.
In summary. Forty years ago, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Pay Act made gender discrimination illegal in America’s workplaces and embraced the principle that women should be paid like men when they do the same work. In the last decade, our nation’s progress toward reaching these goals has stalled. Prompt passage of The Paycheck Fairness Act can and will reactivate momentum.
The Paycheck Fairness Act sends a strong message to working women that this nation intends to eliminate paycheck discrimination in the foreseeable future. At the same time, the Paycheck Fairness Act sends just as strong a message to employers that they can and should pay for the job, not who does the job. If employers do that – pay for the job, not who does the job – we will eliminate pay discrimination not just for women, but for minorities, older workers, and handicapped workers. That is the promise contained in
this bill.
I commend you on your leadership on this bill and offer to help in whatever you wish.
Thank you.
National WAGE Survey ResultsWAGE Survey Of Working Women: Highlights
April 24, 2007
Equal Pay Day
1. About the Survey
In February 2007, in preparation for this year’s Equal Pay Day, The WAGE Project (TWP) initiated a national survey of working women. The purpose of the survey was to hear directly from women in their own words about any recent experiences they had with being treated and paid unfairly at work. TWP works every day to stimulate talk
among working women about their wages and their treatment at work as a preparatory step for them toward taking informed, strategic action to get paid fairly. The survey was intended to encourage women’s dialogue about matters of pay as well as to gain data about what is happening in workplaces throughout America.
Women’s responses exceeded our expectations. Within ten weeks, more than seven hundred women had filled out the survey. Based on the strength of this initial response and requests by women in the survey to continue to enable other working women to contribute their experiences, TWP will continue to collect information through
this survey.
Women participated in the survey through multiple sources. Paper copies of the survey were distributed at events attended by TWP staff. Some respondents filled out surveys at the event. Others mailed in their responses at a later date. The internet version
of the survey accounted for over 90% of all responses.
The survey asked women to provide basic demographic information about
themselves, specifically, age, education, geographic location where they work, industrial or business sector and job title. Then women were asked three questions: (1) can you tell us a time at work recently when you knew that you were not treated or paid fairly;
(2)what objective information persuaded you that this was unfair; and (3) what, if anything, did you do about this and why.
National women’s organizations were tremendously helpful in getting word out about the survey and urging their members to participate. The National Committee on Pay Equity, the American Association of University Women, the Business and Professional Women, the National Organization for Women and the Young Women’s Christian Association – all played leading roles in calling on women to take a few minutes to provide data about what is happening to them at work. States with the most respondents included: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Texas and Vermont. Regions of the country -- Mid-Atlantic, Mid-West, South-East, and West -- had roughly similar shares (16-18% each) of the total participation while the Northeast had slightly more
representation (26%). Almost all respondents ranged in age from their twenties to their sixties. In addition, several teenagers and women over seventy years old took this opportunity to provide information about their work experience. The median age of the participants in the survey was forty-six years old.
Almost half the respondents have attended college or have college degrees; and another four in ten have taken graduate courses or earned graduate degrees. In general, therefore, the survey’s respondents are well educated and trained.
Some women respondents are low and hourly wage earners like the caretaker in New Orleans and the head cashier in upstate NY; others are moderate-earning office managers, librarians, and information technology specialists; and high earning educators, physicians and health care providers. They work in manufacturing companies, financial services businesses, retail shops and communications industries; in hospitals, dentist’s offices, health care agencies, colleges, universities, and social service organizations; and in municipal, state and federal government agencies.
This survey is not a random sample of working women. Yet, considering the number and demographic diversity of the respondents, these women provide an important picture of how women see themselves treated and paid at work. The federal government does not collect such information on a systematic, large scale basis, which would enable researchers and public policy analysts to draw statistically significant conclusions about women’s accounts of their working conditions. Much of the equal employment opportunity data that employers are required to submit to the federal government on
workforce composition and compensation is not available to the public. So, this survey offers valuable insights into these issues.
With respect for and thanks to the working women who provided this information for women and men to consider on Equal Pay Day 2007, the following survey highlights are presented. For purposes of illustration, the language of women’s responses is included for authenticity and so that readers gain some understanding of the intensity of women’s concerns for their paychecks.
2. Survey Highlights
#1. 70% of the respondents report inequitable treatment at work; two out of three of whom report gender bias and discrimination
Seven out of ten women who participated in the survey reported experiences with inequitable treatment and pay -- women of all ages, working in private businesses, nonprofits, and government offices, and living in every state in the nation. These women supported their claims of inequity with credible facts. Two thirds of these women’s accounts of inequities involved gender discrimination.
For example, a Vice President in a call center said “In the 23 years I have worked here, I have never been paid the same pay as the male managers.” How did she know this? “I have total access to payroll records.”
A college educated woman in her late 40’s living in the South reported: “About three years ago I worked for a major corporation in a supervisory capacity. My staff was 47 people and my male colleague's staff was 12. His salary was $28,000, mine was $22,500.” She knew this because “I helped the manager calculate the salary increases for upcoming year.”
A 24-year old mortgage bank relationship manager said “ I discovered that I was producing more loan revenue than a male co-worker but making less per loan.” She was analytic in her assessment of inequity: “I was a higher producer, making more money for the company, and self-sufficient in lead generation. He was not. So I cost the company less.”
Another woman in her twenties, just starting her career, reported “I work for the government. I was brought in at grade 9-10, while a man fresh out of school just like me was brought in at a grade which pays him $10,000 more. I cannot understand it. We are both Physician Assistants.”
A property manager in her fifties reported that a male maintenance superintendent who worked for her made more than she did although she had more education and more job responsibilities.
Not all women claimed that their experiences with inequitable treatment were gender based. One woman explained: “The board is aware of the lag in my wages. It is a budgetary consideration, not a comment on the level of performance or my gender.” Other women said that they are generally underpaid, as illustrated in the comments of this woman: “I do a little of everything. I coordinate all of the special events, trainings, and carry out public relations for the organization. I even do grant writing. I'm only being paid $13/hour with no health insurance benefits. I feel that I am very underpaid for my skills and commitment to my job.”
Women provided details of their experiences of unfair, inequitable treatment. Their responses confirm that women pay close attention to how they are treated at work, especially how they are treated compared to others. They expect evenhandedness and readily identify conditions which do not meet this standard. Even this 16 year old high school worker understands what workplace inequity is all about: “Men are chosen as delivery drivers and women have to work inside. But inside we receive no tips and men get to keep all of their tips.” Responding to how she knew this was unfair she said:
“because there is no tip jar inside. It is kept by the owner, who’s a guy so only guys make extra money.”
#2. More than half (55%) of women workers who reported inequitable treatment and pay took no action for fear of retaliation or convinced their chance to improve their situation was hopeless.
More than half of the women who reported inequitable treatment deliberately decided not to take action to achieve equity. Fear of retaliation was expressed time and time again. “I was afraid to fight for fear of losing my job,” said one. “I was told that if I
acted on what I found out (about being paid less than a man) I would be fired,” another woman said. One middle aged woman in the information technology industry explained: “I did nothing. I need my job and medical benefits since my husband is ill…. The senior director has no compunction about firing people she perceives as ‘toxic’. So I remain mute.” Another woman supporting other family members made a similar comment: “I did nothing. I did not want to jeopardize my position, I am a single parent and need the pay.”
One woman spoke for many others: “We have to keep quiet or we lose our jobs.”
Women also fear being marginalized and ostracized. One woman, after discovering that she was paid less than a man with fewer responsibilities, less education and less related work experience, said: “I did not do anything about it out of fear and not wanting
to ‘rock the boat’.” Another explained: “I didn’t do anything about it because I do not feel comfortable sticking up for myself in an all-male environment. Mostly it is because I fear being immediately compartmentalized as someone who plays the ‘gender card’, and losing respect for that action. It is more fear that openly challenging the status quo with regards to gendered interactions will produce a backlash or a negative reaction.” Still another woman said in plain words: “Cannot speak up. Retaliatory environment. Have supported female colleague unjustly terminated from program and have been harassed, slandered, publicly insulted as a result.” A young woman’s resignation about her summer job experience was particularly poignant : “I didn’t do anything. I was young. It was the end of the summer. I just kinda blew it off. I remember feeling helpless and like there was nothing I could do.” Several women expressed how they were made to feel replaceable, including this woman who worked her way up to the management team of a Fortune 100 company: “You could lose you job if you bucked the system. There was someone younger who would move in at half the salary and not crank about the work/pay or sexist treatment. You can only squeak so much and you become a 'problem'.”
Quite a few women said they did nothing because they had tried and failed in the past to get treated more fairly. Typical of the statements by these women are the following: “It’s just the way it is here.” “What’s the use of trying.” “I’d just be seen as a
troublemaker as I have been in the past whenever I objected.” “Considered the source. What kind of challenge can be done? Men have talked this way to women for eons.”
“Can't because it is an issue that can't be changed or challenged by the unempowered.”
The women for whom fear of retaliation stops them from acting nevertheless deeply resent how they are treated. A thirty year old graphic web designer said: “I haven't worked up the guts to do anything about it because I'm afraid they'll just tell me to leave,
get a new job. And if that happens, I will probably explode with anger. Right now, I just stew with bitterness.” Another woman, a PhD former pharmaceutical company employee explained: “First I was extremely disheartened. Honestly I did nothing about it other than
voice my unhappiness to my management. That is when I was told there was nothing that could be done about it. I stayed at the company for various reasons, however, I never forgot the situation and it entered into my decision making in my job.”
#3. Less than 5% of the women who try to get paid and treated fairly, even withsolid data to make their cases, achieve the equity they seek.
Let’s start with some success stories. One woman said: “I said no that wasn't appropriate - I should be paid the same as another person on the team. He told me to submit my raise documentation (again) but he couldn't pay me the same as the man because of Federal Regulations. I asked if he was aware that Federal Regulation stated that when two people were doing the same job they were to be paid equally? I got a really big raise.” However, this woman continued: “Unfortunately they decided they couldn't market me at the new rate so 1 1/2 years later I was let go.” A branch manager in a bank explained what she did: “A requirement of a loan officer at our bank is a 4 year degree. I came across the pay stub of a gentlemen a little younger than I who was promoted into the position without a degree (which I have). At the time I discovered the discrepancy in pay I was earning about $2800 per month and he was earning about $3000. I asked for an explanation from my manager about the discrepancy. He researched it and was told that the other person had been with the bank longer. I was, however, given a raise to match the other person's salary.”
Some women reported that they obtained slight advancements. For example, a healthcare senior supervisor reported: “I challenged the treatment and it resulted in a Sexual Harassment workshop” then she added, “which the men snickered through. I talked to HR about my boss's attitude and was told by the female VP of HR that I should
just ignore the male VP's attitude.”
Most women’s attempts to secure equity were denied or disregarded. “I happened to see my colleague’s paystub (he left it out). He had less credentials, less seniority and
made 40% more than me. I approached HR and they explained that paychecks were private and that I should not have looked at it. I decided not to pursue it further for fear of backlash,” explained a woman in her late thirties working in financial planning. After
being forced to hire a man who was then promoted over her, one young woman explained that she: “ approached the VP to talk to him about my lack of compensation and support. I asked him if he could share with me how raises were distributed in the company and what I could expect in the future for my hard work. I was told those were inappropriate questions and that I could get a job elsewhere if I didn't like the company I worked for.” “I was told that the door is right there. This is how it is,” said one woman who works two jobs to support her family and send her kids to college because “those of us who work with our heads earn less than men working with brawn.”
Even women who do act also fear retaliation. A government worker continually bypassed for much younger, inexperienced men, said “I made objections to my immediate superior, but I was brushed off. I didn't want to make too many waves or I could be subject to reprisals as to work assignment, etc.”
#4. One in five (20%) women reports leaving or planning to leave her job because of inequitable treatment.
A 31 year-old woman who lost her retirement benefit because her employer said he couldn’t afford it and that her husband “had a real good one anyway” concluded: “Who cares what my husband has. I am possibly leaving my employment with my current company because of it.”
A 40 year-old graphic designer discovered while out on maternity leave that the company hired a man for the job she was promised. “This person became my boss and I resigned.” A young grocery store clerk found herself demoted when she became engaged
and her boss assumed she would not then transfer to another store. “I ended up just going and finding another job since we did not have the money to hire a lawyer to sue this company!” One woman talked about her job awhile ago: “It was a very small town and I
was afraid of making waves because I needed the job to support my family. Eventually, I quit and went to college and got a degree and went into a different career.” A middleaged public relations director who realized she was earning $10,000 less than a counterpart said: “I didn't challenge it; I left the agency instead. I knew the agency head was sexist and unlikely to alter the situation.” “I finally have had enough already. It's time to either compensate me or I move on.”
A Vice President in the prime years of her career captured the futility of improving her situation, which also was expressed by a number of other women: “I am still missing out on promotions and growth opportunities due to my gender. I have not been given an equal chance to interview despite better qualifications. The second time this happened despite stellar reviews. There is no way to change a good old boy. Speaking up would mark me for the rest of the career. There's just no way to have this conversation and survive it. From experience I know to be quiet. But this forces me to
look to move to a new area in order to find a path that moves forward. So the company loses a great resource.”
3. Conclusion
For decades, when asked their priorities by national pollsters, working women have ranked equal pay at the top of their list, ahead of child care and health care. This survey reveals why pay equity is so important to women: seventy percent of the women in this survey reported recent experiences with unfair treatment that they can substantiate. Of the 70 percent respondents, with 20 percent leaving for better working conditions, and less than 5 percent achieving equitable treatment, that means almost half these women
(45%) reported working under conditions which they knew were discriminatory yet had to accept. As hardworking, dedicated workers, their feelings of resentment and frustration fester as long as the indignities and injustices they withstand go unaddressed.
With every passing day in which employers ignore these conditions in their workplaces, this survey suggests that the nation loses the best work efforts of a large portion the labor force.
The burden cannot and must not be solely on working women to fix these conditions. Employers and policy makers must play roles in achieving gender pay equity in every American workplace. Public policy must establish better conditions for working women so that they can speak up about inequities without fear of retaliation. At the same time, public policy must create workplaces where employers pay for the job not who does the job.
Working women do not want special treatment. They want fair treatment. Together, with strengthened laws, working women and employers can achieve gender pay equity. The health of the US economy and the health of American families will be strengthened when women finally get paid like men.
Maine Announces 32 WAGE Clubs and CountingJoined by WAGE Project President Evelyn Murphy, Maine Governor and First Lady Baldacci, Senate President Beth Edmonds, and Maine Department of Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman, Maine women’s leaders announced the formation of 32 WAGE Clubs at events on April 4 to mark Maine’s statewide equal pay day.
At the announcement, Dr. Murphy, who also is the author of Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and the architect of the WAGE Club strategy, commended Maine’s leadership as the first state to roll out this collaborative grassroots effort to eliminate the wage gap. The Maine WAGE Club initiative is led by the YWCA, Maine Women’s Lobby, Maine Women’s Fund, and other women’s organizations.
As a part of Maine Equal Pay Day activities, Governor Baldacci issued an Equal Pay Day proclamation. The Democratic Women’s League also featured Dr. Murphy, First Lady Karen Balducci, and Senator Edmonds at an event to garner more support for efforts to eliminate wage discrimination.
The National Committee on Pay Equity – a coalition of national women’s rights, civil rights, employee rights, and professional organizations committed to closing the wage gap – will partner with the WAGE Project on April 25 to launch a national grassroots campaign to launch WAGE clubs at a National Equal Pay Day news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C..
For information on how you can start a WAGE Club, visit http://www.wageproject.org/content/get_even/howtostart.shtml.
Harassment- Case Winner Wants Old Job BackIn April 2004, Hydie Sumner was awarded $2.2 million in a case against her former employer, Merrill Lynch. Sumner was a stockbroker with the San Antonio office who endured persistent sexual harassment in the form of lewd and derogatory comments. She was also denied promotion because she refused to have sex with her boss. Sumner's award allowed many other former female employees who had endured similar ordeals to sue Merrill Lynch. In March 2005, Sumner went back to court to get her old job back. She said that she wanted to return to the management track in order to make improvements in the company's attitude toward women.
Salesperson Sues Former Employer for Sex, Age DiscriminationMarilyn Murphy, a former employee at Gallery Furniture, sued the store for sex and age discrimination after being fired in 2002. She was one of two female salespersons out of a team of 37. Murphy claims that Jim McIngvale, the owner of Gallery Furniture, preferred younger employees to those with more experience, and fired her due to her sex and age. Murphy said that McIngvale assigned her to answering phones rather than to working the sales floor, causing her to lose sales. Former coworker Martin G. McDaniel sued the store along with Murphy for age discrimination. McIngvale asserts that he fired the two because they lacked enthusiasm and had low sales. The trial was held in early March 2005.
Female Police Chief Sues Ex-Chief, Pittsburgh BoroughMichele Krempasky, the police chief of Wilkinsburg, a borough of Pittsburgh, filed charges of sex discrimination against the ex-chief of the department, Richard Dwyer, and the borough in early 2005. Krempasky, who replaced Dwyer as chief in 2004, alleges that Dwyer continually discriminated against her when she was a lieutenant under him. She claimed that when they first met in 2002, he told her she was "lucky she had a job." A week later, Dwyer removed Krempasky as head of the Criminal Investigation Division. He also repeatedly made derogatory remarks about female police officers. When Krempasky became pregnant, Dwyer did not comply with Krempasky's doctor's recommendation that she perform light duties. Soon Dwyer had reduced Krempasky's duties solely to calling roll. Krempasky also alleges that Dwyer repeatedly made false reports that she performed her job poorly.
Female Employees Charge Grand Casino Gulfport with Sex Discrimination Four employees of Grand Casino Gulfport filed a complaint of sex discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The women, Denise Bartholomew, Vickie Carden-Garriga, Marie Cox and Lena Waddell Rumore, claim they were denied promotions based on their sex. That claim was found unsubstantiated by U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. However, the women's allegations that the casino retaliated against them for filing their complaint with the EEOC will go to trial. The case was expected to go to trial in November 2004.
Waitresses Sue Ruby Tuesday's For Gender DiscriminationFour waitresses claim that the restaurant Ruby Tuesday's policy of requiring female waitresses to wear make-up violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Title VII protects against discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, and national origin. The policy is no longer in practice.
Cheerleader Sues Owner of Madison Square GardenCourtney Prince, a cheerleader for the New York Rangers, filed a sex discrimination lawsuit on October 18, 2004 against SquareCablevision Systems Corp., the corporation that manages Madison Square Garden's entertainment business. Prince alleges that she was sexually harassed by a member of management, and then fired for warning fellow cheerleaders. The manager allegedly tried to stick his tongue down Prince's throat and then propositioned her for sex. Madison Square Garden says that the allegations are unsubstantiated.
Delaware State Police Head Charged with Sexual Harassment and DiscriminationCol. Aaron Chaffinch, the head of the Delaware State Police, was suspended on October 27, 2004 due to allegations that he sexually harassed and discriminated against women on the force. Capt. Barbara Conley claimed that Chaffinch refused to promote her to Major because he did not believe that women could perform the job. She also accused Chaffinch of repeatedly making lewd remarks and engaging in inappropiate behavior. For example, Chaffinch allegedly referred to the secretary's breasts in a derogatory manner, talked about his desire to have sex with female employees, and referred to his genitals by nickname. Chaffinch has been the defendant in several lawsuits, including one for race discrimination, and one for retaliation.
Former Waitress Sues MA Friendly'sA former waitress at a Quincy, Massachusetts Friendly's restaurant filed charges with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination of sexual harassment and discrimination in October 2004. The woman, who declined identification, alleged that she was sexually harassed and assaulted by Mario Morellus, another restaurant employee. When she complained to management, her reports were ignored. Assistant manager Mark Caserma admitted that the woman had complained about Morellus. He also said that fellow manager Keri Murphy had told him that at least three other female employees had complained about Morellus. Caserma said that he and general manager Charlie Clark spoke to Morellus. Eventually the plaintiff called the Quincy police, who charged Morellus with 10 counts of indecent assault and battery.
Former Professor Sues the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Associate professor Barbara Guenther filed suit in the fall of 2004 against the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for discrimination based on sex and race. Guenther, a white woman, claims that she is paid less than men and minority women who do work comparable to hers. She also says that discrimination against her is part of a pattern of underpaying women at the school.
Southern Company Signs Mediation Agreement with EEOCIn October 2004, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission signed its 73rd National Universal Agreement to Mediate (NUAM) with Sotuhern Company and its affiliates, such as Alabama Power, Gulf Power, and Mississippi Power. These agreements help to resolve workplace bias disputes more efficiently. According to the agreement, any complaints of discrimination filed with the EEOC that name a Southern Company participating company as the employer or respondent will be assigned a corporate representative. That representative will be responsible for handling inquiries and any logistics related to the complaint. This process eliminates the time that elapses between serving a charge and getting it to the appropriate employer contact, and eases the scheduling of mediation sessions. Either the EEOC or Southern Company can withdraw from specific cases if they believe that the claim is inappropriate. Since the National Mediation Program was established in 1999, the EEOC has successfully resolved 70% of the cases in the program in an average time of 83 days - nearly half the time it takes to resolve a charge through the usual investigative process.
Former Employee Sues Best Buy for Sex and Race DiscriminationEllen Sharp has filed charges of discrimination based on sex and race with Baltimore's federal court against Best Buy Co, Inc. and Best Buy Stores L.P. Sharp, who worked at a Best Buy store in Columbia, Maryland, claims that she was disciplined and fired in November 2003 due to her sex and race, and that she was retaliated against for complaining that the company subjected its black employees to disparate treatment.
Former Paramedic Sues Caroline County, MDIn the fall of 2004, a former paramedic of Caroline County, Maryland filed suit against the county for sex discrimination, claiming that she was fired due to her pregnancy. The county refused to transfer Hannah B. Thomas or to assign her lighter duties, even though it allegedly offers employees who are not pregnant such transfers.
Professor Sues University of BuffaloLynn Ilon, a former professor at the University of Buffalo, filed a lawsuit in November 2000 against the university in New York State Supreme Court. Ilon claims that she was denied tenure because she reported a fellow professor for sexually harassing his students. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act not only protects employees from discrimination based on sex, race, religion, and national origin, but also protects those who complain about such treatment from retaliation. The suit is now in its investigative phase.
New Mother Challenges DiscriminationElementary school psychologist Elana Back was up for tenure when she took off three months for the birth of her child. Although she received excellent performance reviews at the Hastings-on-Hudson, NY school both before and after her leave, her supervisors, including the school principal, questioned her commitment to the job when it came time for Back's tenure review. They believed that with a child at home, she would stop doing her job well. In the lawsuit, Back alleges that after she became pregnant, her female bosses made the following comments: That her hard work was "just an act," and once she received tenure she'd start leaving early; that it would be too hard to do the job well with "little ones" at home; that "if my family was my priority ... maybe this was not the job for me." Back lost her job, and soon thereafter filed a lawsuit with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York for gender discrimination. The court acknowledged that discrimination against a woman for being a mother is a form of sex discrimination.
This type of discrimination is known in some areas as caregiver discrimination, and is specifically prohibited in the federal government, Alaska, and the District of Columbia.
National Business Women's Week Celebrates the Achievements of Working WomenEvery year National Business Women's Week promotes equity for America's 68 million female workers. The week was established in 1928 by Business and Professional Women/USA, and typically occurs in the third week in October. The week reminds Americans that despite the tremendous achievements of women in the workforce, the Current Population Survey shows that women hold about one-third of managerial and professional positions and earn substantially less than men. The gap between median earnings of full-time, year-round workers actually widened between 2002 and 2003. In 2002, women earned 77 percent of what men earned. In 2003, women's earnings were 76 percent of men's.
Class Action Certified in Suit Against Wal-MartIn the fall of 2004, a federal disctrict court certified a class action that could include up to 1.6 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees. The suit claims that Wal-Mart stores consistently discriminated against women in the areas of promotion and pay. The class may include any woman who was employed at a Wal-Mart store between December 26, 1998 and can substantiate claims of sex discrimination.
Lawsuit Against City of Wichita Seeks Class Action StatusOfficers Greta Semsroth, Kim Warehime, Sara Voyles and Heather Plush of the Wichita, Kansas Police Department sued the city for sexual harassment and discrimination on July 19, 2004. They are seeking class action status. The suit claims that the women were discriminated against in the areas of pay, assignments, and promotions. It also says that city officials did not properly investigate charges of discrimination. The city denies all allegations.
Associate Professor Sues Kennesaw State University for Sex DiscriminationFormer Associate Music Professor Hillary Hight Daw was awarded $1.06 million on August 24, 2004 in a sex discrimination lawsuit. Daw claimed that she consisently received lower pay than the men in her department and was passed over for department chair due to her sex. The man who received the chairmanship was far younger and had only been teaching as a professor for one year. When Daw complained of discrimination, the very people responsible for the pay decisions investigated, and found Daw's claims unsubstantiated.
KSU has been sued twice previously for discrimination by Jewish professors claiming anti-Semitism. One of the cases was settled for $750,000, and the other was ruled in favor of KSU.
Employee Sues Bloomberg LP for Sexual HarassmentShimba Jones, a computer security technician at Bloomberg LP of New York, filed suit against the company in Manhattan's state Supreme Court in September 2004. She claims that Bloomberg officials ignored her complaints of sexual harassment by her supervisor, Stan Smith. Jones claims that the harassment occured continually from the time she was hired in October 2000 until she went on medical leave in April 2004. When she returned from medical leave, Jones said that she was assigned the duties of an entry-level employee. Bloomberg spokeswoman Judith Czelusiniak claims that Bloomberg officials did investigate Jones' complaints, but found them unsubstantiated.
Union Executive Director Sues Board Members for Sex, Race, Age DiscriminationLillian Roberts, the Executive Director of District Council 37, the largest union of municipal employees, sued the union's board members for discrimination based on sex, race, and age on September 8, 2004. The lawsuit was filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan. Roberts, a 76-year-old black woman, claims that the board practiced discrimination when it cut her pay from $250,000 to $175,000 in February 2004. The union's treasurer, Maf Misbah Uddin, joined the suit, claiming that the board members discriminated against him as an Asian-American when they cut his salary from $180,000 to $140,000. Defendants said that Ms. Roberts's salary was cut because it was too much in comparison to the salaries of other municipal union leaders. However, the plaintiff's supporters assert that Roberts earns less than the presidents of several union locals within District Council 37.
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Sued For Sex, Race DiscriminationFormer service worker Judy Green filed suit in 2001 against the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), claiming that she was discriminated against based on her sex and race. She alleged that while working for the LVCVA, her male coworkers subjected her to deragatory comments about her race and her sex, she received lower evaluations despite comparable work performance, she received the least desirable jobs, and she was denied the vacation time received by her male coworkers. The LVCVA denies any wrongdoing, but agreed to settle for a confidential amount in August 2004.
EEOC Files Second Suit Against Riviera HotelThe Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a second suit against the Las Vegas Riviera Hotel on September 9, 2004. The first suit was filed by the EEOC on behalf of former employee Jean Sylvia, who claimed that for years she was subjected to persistent derogatory remarks due to her age and sex. The new suit claims that Riviera retaliated against former employees Ronni Hill and Jo-Anna Harris for cooperating with the EEOC as witnesses.
EEOC Signs Mediation Agreement With Tyson Foods, Inc.In September 2004, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission signed its 62nd National Universal Agreement to Mediate (NUAM) with Tyson Foods, Inc., the second largest food company in the FORTUNE 500. These agreements help to resolve workplace bias disputes more efficiently. According to the agreement, any complaints of discrimination filed with the EEOC that name Tyson Foods, Inc. as the employer or respondent will be assigned a corporate representative. That representative will be responsible for handling inquiries and any logistics related to the complaint. This process eliminates the time that elapses between serving a charge and getting it to the appropriate employer contact, and eases the scheduling of mediation sessions. Either the EEOC or Tyson Foods can withdraw from specific cases if they believe that the claim is inappropriate. Since the National Mediation Program was established in 1999, the EEOC has successfully resolved 70% of the cases in the program in an average time of 85 days - nearly half the time it takes to resolve a charge through the usual investigative process.
EEOC Improving Response to Bias ComplaintsEqual Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Cari M. Dominguez said that the EEOC has made significant improvements in processing and responding to complaints in the past fiscal year (FY 2004). Among the accomplishments cited were the reduction of hearing processing time from 420 days in FY 2003 to 298 days in FY 2004, and reduction of the hearings inventory from 8,467 cases in FY 2003 to 5,871 in FY 2004. One reason for these improvements was the establishment of Management Directive 715. This Directive improves methods by which federal agencies analyze diversity. This data will be utilized to address root problems that cause disparities in the federal workplace.
New Mexico Department of Transportation Employee Files Sex Discrimination SuitYvonne Aragon worked for the Las Vegas, New Mexico transportation office for 16 years. In October 2004 she filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against District Engineer Severiano Sisneros. Aragon claims that during her employment Sisneros harassed and verbally abused her. Aragon's immediate supervisor disclosed to her that Sisneros told him to do whatever he could to get Aragon fired, but that he could not find fault in her work performance. After she filed the suit, Aragon claims that Sisneros retaliated by escalating the harassment. The transportation department spokesperson could not comment on the litigation.
Second Complaint Filed Against Bunnell, FL Police DepartmentOfficer Diana Perry filed a complaint of sex discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in September 2004 against the Bunnell, Florida Police Department. Perry claims that she was consistently subjected to harassment and treated differently than her male counterparts. Perry alleges that when she brought the issue to City Manager Lyndon Bonner's attention, he did not respond.
This is the second complaint filed against the department in six months. In April 2004, Cpl. Irene Hosford accused the department of sexual harassment and discrimination.
Federal Department of Education Investigates Riverside Community College The Office of Civil Rights of the federal Department of Education investigated claims of sex discrimination at Riverside Community College, located in Riverside, CA in the fall of 2004. Kathy Brooks, an associate professor at the college, was among a number of women who contacted the agency last year because she had concerns that sexual harassment complaints were not being properly addressed. According to state requirements, the college should notify the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office of any reports of sexual harassment. Brooks and others say that college administrators failed to do so. The president of the college, Salvatore Rotella, denied that college administrators had made any errors.
New Jersey Township Settles Suit After Three YearsThe court administrator of Pequannock, New Jersey received $70,000 in a settlement with the township. Court Administrator Kathleen J. Koegler filed a sex discrimination suit in May 2001. She claimed that she was paid less than male colleagues in similar positions, even though she was assigned the duties of a department head. Koegler also claimed she was subjected to sexist remarks. After 3 years and $100,000 in legal fees, the township council finally agreed to settle in October 2004.
Woman Sues Abercrombie & Fitch for Sexual Harassment and DiscriminationJolene Eichorn, a former employee of an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Duluth, Minnesota is suing the company, claiming that her supervisor sexually harassed her and that she was not properly paid for her work. According to the complaint, filed in 2004, Eichorn's supervisor, Corey Graham, warned her before she started her position as assistant manager that a female employee had recently been fired for reporting Graham for sexual harassment. He also told Eichorn that it was company policy to give better-looking employees more hours. Once Eichorn started her job, she was subjected to Graham's lewd sexual remarks and groping. After she consistently rejected his advances, Graham treated Eichorn with hostility until she resigned. Eichorn also claims that although she was an assistant manager, she was given mostly non-managerial work and was not paid for overtime. At the same time, Abercrombie & Fitch is also facing charges of corporation-wide discrimination based on race and national origin.
Former Executive Sues Merrill Lynch for Sex DiscriminationStephanie Villalba, a former market executive for Europe in Merrill Lynch's international private client group, filed a lawsuit against the bank for sex discrimination. She claimed that she was sexually harassed, was belittled because of her sex, received unequal pay for equal work, and was unfairly dismissed. Villalba alleged that in 2002 her total pay was less than that of more junior management. She also did not receive a bonus that an executive in her position normally receives. Villalba was dismissed in July 2003. She claims that the bank was "institutionally sexist."
Merrill Lynch has denied the accusations. Villalba's immediate boss, Ausaf Abbas, claims that she was fired due to poor work performance, unwillingness to travel, and poor leadership skills. Raymundo Yu, who runs the bank's international private client business, cited that Merrill Lynch's European private client unit, for which Villalba was responsible, made a pre-tax loss of $45.8 million in 2002. That loss was bigger than that of any other region in the world, although Yu admitted that the bank's European private client business was losing money even before Villalba began running it.
Damages Award Reduced In Sex Discrimination Lawsuit AppealTracey Lust filed a claim of sex discrimination against Sealy, Inc., a mattress manufacturer, after she was passed up for a promotion in favor of a younger male colleague. She claims that the supervisor who made the decision, Scott Penters, had consistently made sexist comments to her. Lust, who worked at the Madison, Wisconsin office for eight years, was promoted shortly after filing the claim. In the original trial she was awarded $300,000, the maximum award in employment discrimination cases. Sealy, Inc. appealed. The decision was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals, but the award was reduced to $150,000 in September 2004 due to the argument that Sealy swiftly remedied the discriminatory action.
EEOC Files Suits Against Two Companies For Sexual HarassmentAccording to the suit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on September 27, 2004, FleetPride Inc., a company based in Texas, fired its only female employee after she complained of sexual harassment. The woman, who worked at the company's Oklahoma City office, reported to management that she was subjected to lewd sexual comments, groping, and propositions for sex, but her complaint was ignored.
The EEOC also filed suit on September 27, 2004 against United Motors, a Florida-based company, on behalf of a 19-year-old woman who was subjected to sexual harassment and then forced to quit in order to escape such an environment. In addition to lost wages and damages, both lawsuits are seeking company policies and training programs that will allow employees to recognize and correct harassment and to prevent retaliation against victims.
Committee to Review Management of Sexual Harassment in Military AcademiesA combined civilian and military committee started reviewing, in October 2004, the management of sexual assault and harassment reports in military academies. The committee, headed by Navy Vice Admiral Gerald Hoewing, was formed following information that Air Force Academy administrators were ignoring such reports. The committee planns to interview students and faculty of various military academies.
In addition, the Department of Defense has recently undertaken a study of sexual violence among active-duty army members and the Guard and the Reserve is contemplating stricter measures against sex crimes.
EEOC Sues Pennsylvania RestaurantTwo former employees of Cactus Willie's, a restaurant in East Hempfield, Pennsylvania charged co-owner Brett R. Austin on October 4, 2004 of sex discrimination for failing to respond to their complaints of sexual harassment. The employees, Bonita Axe and Brenda Zankl, claim that general manager Neal Mease made unwelcome sexual comments and inappropriately touched them and their female coworkers. Austin did nothing to address the situation. Axe also attempted to confront Mease directly, and was fired shortly thereafter. The suit claims that other employees were retaliated against as well.
This was the second recent lawsuit concerning sexual discrimination and harassment in the Lancaster area. The week before the owner of Silk City Diner in East Cocalico Township was charged with sex discrimination for ignoring a waitress's complaints of sexual harassment.
Employees File Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Suit Against CB Richard EllisFive female employees of CB Richard Ellis, the largest commercial real estate firm in the country, are suing for sexual harassment and discrimination. They filed a complaint in September 2004. The women worked in the Chicago office of the Los Angeles-based company. The plaintiffs allege that they were subjected to inappropriate sexual comments and behavior, and that management condoned such conduct. The plaintiffs allege that male coworkers flashed them and had vulgar conversations about sex. The plaintiff's attorney has moved to have the lawsuit certified as a class action, which could potentially involve thousands of women in the case. CB Richard Ellis has denied the allegations. |
