Women in Pennsylvania earn 79 cents for every dollar paid to men, amounting to a gap of over $10,000 a year. The gender wage gap is the result of many factors, including occupational segregation, bias against working mothers, and direct pay discrimination. The bottom line is, when an employee works hard and follows the rules, they should earn the same amount as their colleagues for doing the same job.
 
To combat unequal pay in the workplace, we will be introducing legislation to update Pennsylvania’s antiquated Equal Pay Law as follows:

1. Broaden the scope of current law to include more employees and fringe benefits;
2. Protect employees from retaliation when inquiring about wage information, ensuring wages are based on bona fide factors; and
3. Provide workers the ability to collect unpaid wages when an employer is found to violate the law.

 
This is a reintroduction of SB 421 of last session, which was co-sponsored by Senators Kearney, Hughes, Haywood, Street, Schwank, Tartaglione, Dillon, Comitta, Cappelletti, Costa, L. Williams, Kane, and Muth.
 
In advance of Equal Pay Day on March 5, 2025, we ask for your support and to join us in co-sponsoring this legislation, to ensure that women are recognized equally for the value of their work.