PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Senate on Thursday approved legislation mandating equal pay for women and minorities by a vote of 33-4, with one member not voting.
The legislation, which includes identical bills in the House and Senate, updates the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The bills, known as the Fair Employment Practices Act, will now be sent to the desk of Gov. Daniel J. McKee for his consideration.
The Senate version of the bill was sponsored by Sen. Gayle L. Goldin, D-Providence, who is a longtime advocate for equal pay.
Pay equity legislation sponsored by Rep. Susan R. Donovan, D-Bristol, passed unanimously in the full House on June 29.
During the House session, Donovan read from a prepared speech in which she gave appreciation to the people who collaborated on the legislation. Her comments were met with applause.
“As most of you know, this bill is really important to me,” she said, noting that she had been a victim of wage discrimination at one point in her life. “Fixing wage disparities will put money directly in the hands of families who need it, and they will spend it in our local economy.”
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi lauded Donovan’s three-year effort in shepherding the legislation, saying, “This is the most proud vote I have taken since I have been here.”
The legislation that the House approved was an amended version of a bill passed by the Senate in March.
The intent of the legislation is to combat wage discrimination against women, minorities and other vulnerable groups by strengthening and closing gaps in Rhode Island’s existing wage discrimination laws. The bill provides employers with a year-and-a-half learning curve to implement the policy.
The legislation also gives the director of the R.I. Department of Labor and Training the power to bring legal action against an employer for an inequity claim, while also providing protections for employers, including when it might be permissible to pay an employee differently. An employer liable for a civil penalty would be obligated to pay the DLT fines from $1,000 up to $5,000.
John Simmons, spokesman for the Rhode Island Business Coalition and former CEO and president of the Rhode Island Public Expenditures Council, painted the legislation as a compromise between lawmakers and the business community. Simmons said that while some businesses do not like mandated policies, the coalition was pleased with the employer protections that were incorporated into the bill.
“I think we’re comfortable that we came to a negotiated resolution amongst a lot of business groups, and what we think is a workable document,” said Simmons, who noted that what came out of the negotiations “was something that employers can work with.”
Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, said she was appreciative of Shekarchi’s efforts with the bill and listening to the feedback of the business community. “It was a highly complex undertaking to ensure that the details of the bill actually matched the true intent,” she said. “Our teams worked throughout last weekend to clarify and improve language that otherwise would have been impractical, punitive and out of step with other states’ approaches to workforce development.”
Greg Pare, spokesman for the Senate, said, “Pay equity is a priority for the Senate and has been for a number of years.”
The National Women’s Law Center said women who work full time typically earn a wage of 82 cents for every $1 men earn nationally. In Rhode Island, women earn 84.8 cents for every $1 men earn. As for women of color, Black women in the state earn 61 cents for every $1 earned by men, while Latinas earn 53 cents.
Cassius Shuman is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Shuman@PBN.com.
