Federal Legal Activities of Interest to Women - Contact your US representatives

• Minimum WAGE raised to $7.25 by July 24, 2009, raising the minimum yearly salary from $10,712 to $15,080 - H.R. 2006 - http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR02206:  
• The Paycheck Fairness Act strengthens the penalties that courts may impose for equal pay violations and prohibits retaliation against workers who inquire about or disclose information about employers’ wage practices. The bill provides for compensatory and punitive damages, in addition to back pay, for women denied equal pay for equal work; authorizes class action equal pay suits, and directs the U.S. Department of Labor to provide public information about strategies for identifying and eliminating wage discrimination and to issue guidelines for evaluating jobs.  House Action on H.R. 1338 at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:2:./temp/~c110oQe9Hp:: and Senate Action on S. 766 at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:1:./temp/~c110oQe9Hp:: (referred by both to committees in March 2007)
• The Fair Pay Act would prohibit wage discrimination based on sex, race, and national origin by requiring employers to provide equal pay for work of equal value, whether or not the jobs are the same. (For example, within individual companies, employers could not pay jobs that are held predominantly by women less than jobs held predominantly by men if those jobs are equivalent in value to the employer.) Exceptions are made for different wage rates based on seniority, merit, quantity or quality of work, and there is a small business exception. The bill also would ban retaliation and require employers to file wage information annually with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Both bills have been introduced in both houses of Congress.  House Action on H.R. 2019 at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.02019: and Senate Action on S.1087 at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.01087: (referred by both to committees in April 2007).