National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force
National Equal Pay Enforcement took its root from the moment, when the President John F. Kennedy signed the Act, allowing women to have equal rights to be paid the same amount as men did. After that, the very next year, Title VII from the Civil Rights Act (1964) was followed. It was agreed upon that women discrimination based on race, sex, ethnicity, color, nations origin, and religion was totally unacceptable. Nowadays, 50 years since the Equal Pay Act was signed, the average womens salary is about 77 cents to what men are paid. Experts and specialists in the area of finance state that the following is explained by nondiscriminatory factors and the concept that equal salary remains unrealized.
When the Lilly Ledbetter Pay Act was signed in 2009 by the U.S. President Barack Obama, it satisfied the campaign promise and approved the commitment to give women the equal rights. The Lilly Ledbetter Act helped to restore the interpretation of laws paying discrimination claim accrues. It helped to avoid discrimination whenever it occurred. Whenever discriminatory pay and decision affect an employee, they can turn to the law and act for justice in order to get their fair share and paycheck. Lilly Ledbetter Act became the most significant step concerning equal pay and administrations pursuit.
Additionally, effective enforcement has been supported by equal pay and all kinds of civil right laws with the help of city budgets aimed at enforcement agencies for civil rights. An 11% increase concerning the Department of Justice and Civil Rights Division was provided in the 2011 Fiscal Year in comparison to the 18% increase of the last years division budget. A program of Labors Office and Federal Contract Compliance funding is increased by 10% of Presidents Budget. The Commission of equal opportunity receives 5% bonus increase additionally to the last years increase. Taking into account the increases, just like Barack Obama promised, it is better to enforce the laws of equal pay. The President keeps on supporting Paycheck Fairness Act, the one he already cosponsored in Senate. Task Force of National Pay Enforcement concerning the presidents pledge in the Unions state addresses to fight the violations of laws equal pay. Taking into account the latter instance, the Administration resorted to creating the NEPETF (National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force). It brings together several organizations like EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), the DOJ (Department of Justice), DOL (Department of Labor) and OPM (Office of Personnel Management.)
Improvements and Challenges in the Area of Payment
Despite the fact that many laws exist and address the equality of payment, Task Force is the first one to have identified five considerable challenges in the area of payment. It made recommendation concerning addressing every single challenge. Also, it helped developing action plans concerning the recommendations implementations.
1) All three federal agencies are targeted to distinguish the responsibility concerning enforcing laws, which prohibit discrimination in payments. Still the agencies do not coordinate the responsibilities. Task Force came up with the identification of particular areas where highly coordinated actions of the agencies will be taken to improve investigations and certain enforcement abilities. Recommendation of the mechanisms adaption concerning facilitating the coordination will be required.
2) Government is able to understand the full underlying causes of wage gaps. It can also identify and fight discrimination in wages. The following can be improved by accessing more data than are currently available. Recommendations are offered by the Task Force concerning data collection targets. Also, enforcement abilities enhancement is offered by the Task Force. Still, at the time they are limiting the employer burdens.
3) Most employees and their employers are not correctly informed and educated concerning their rights and obligations in retrospect to wage discrimination. The Task Force has developed a plan for both employers and employees concerning education programs on the correct way and right to pay everyone equally. Task Force is also responsible for federal employees training improvement and wage discrimination identification, investigation and prosecution.
4) GAO (Government Accountability Office) came up with 11% wage gap between womens and mens salaries in the federal workforce. Task Force came up with directing both EEOC and OPM to work with GAO in order to identify and to clarify wage gap reasons and certain ways to close it.
5) Already existing laws rarely provide ways to battle the wage discrimination. Administration fully stands for Paycheck Fairness Act, closing loopholes in Equal Pay Act. The latter one provides employers with an unjustified defense concerning their discriminatory conducts. It also strengthens prohibitions in retaliation and tries to make sure that female individuals obtain the same remedies according to Equal Pay Act as under any other laws to the ones subjected to wage discrimination on various bases.
Social and Economic Progress. Persistent Pay Gap
Female individuals made a considerable step forward since the Equal Pay Act was established. In 2012, the women force participation rate in labor was about 51.7%. It was 50% higher from what it used to be in the early 1960s. In 1960, there were barely 15% of women in managerial positions. Closer to 2009, there were about 40% women in the position of a manager. The ratio between womens and mens annual earnings narrowed from 59 cents for a $1 for men in 1963 to 77 cents in the beginning of 2011. The progress in education for women who outnumbered men concerning their attainment of Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral Degrees has gained the earning power. Fifty years after the Act was established, a gap in pay still remains vital. Studies have shown that a considerable portion of the wage gap is not to be clearly explained, because such factors as labor market experience along with job characteristics should be fully controlled.
The womens movement to the top in entrepreneurial ranks brought new earning opportunities for women. Economic Census of 1972 confirmed that 486,009 firms were directed by women. By 1982, the number reached 2,612,621. The receipts, owned by women directors approached $101,856,490. There were 1,254,5