Florida Senate - 2009 SB 1964
By Senator Joyner
18-00401A-09 20091964__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to employment discrimination; creating
3 the Helen Gordon Davis Equal Pay Protection Act;
4 making legislative findings relating to equal pay for
5 equal work for women; recognizing the importance of
6 the Agency for Workforce Innovation and the Commission
7 on Human Relations; requiring the Agency for Workforce
8 Innovation to conduct studies and provide information
9 to employers, labor organizations, and the public
10 concerning the means available to eliminate pay
11 disparities between men and women; creating the
12 Governor’s Recognition Award for Pay Equity in the
13 Workplace; requiring that the award be made annually
14 to businesses in this state which have engaged in
15 activities that eliminate the barriers to equal pay
16 for equal work for women; requiring the director of
17 the agency and the chairperson of the commission to
18 work cooperatively with the Executive Office of the
19 Governor to create eligibility criteria for employers
20 to receive the award; providing an effective date.
21
22 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
23
24 Section 1. Equal pay recognition; awards.—
25 (1) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the “Helen
26 Gordon Davis Equal Pay Protection Act.”
27 (2) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT; DUTIES OF AGENCY FOR
28 WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND COMMISSION ON HUMAN RELATIONS.—
29 (a) The Legislature finds that women have entered the
30 workforce in record numbers over the past 50 years. Yet, despite
31 the enactment of the Equal Pay Act in 1963, many women continue
32 to earn significantly lower salaries and pay than men for equal
33 work. These pay disparities exist in both the private and
34 governmental sectors. In many instances, the pay disparities are
35 the result of continued intentional discrimination against women
36 or the lingering effects of past discrimination against women.
37 (b) The Legislature further finds that the existence of
38 such pay disparities:
39 1. Depresses the wages of working families who rely on the
40 wages of all members of the family;
41 2. Undermines the retirement security of women, which is
42 based on wages women earn while in the workforce;
43 3. Prevents the optimum use of available labor resources;
44 4. Continues to spread and perpetuate, through commerce and
45 the instrumentalities of commerce, among workers in all states;
46 5. Burdens commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce;
47 6. Constitutes an unfair method of competition in commerce;
48 7. Leads to labor disputes that burden and obstruct
49 commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce;
50 8. Interferes with the orderly and fair marketing of goods
51 in commerce; and
52 9. Deprives female workers of equal protection on the basis
53 of gender in violation of the Fifth and the Fourteenth
54 Amendments to the United States Constitution.
55 (c)1. The Legislature further finds that artificial
56 barriers to the payment of equal wages continue to exist decades
57 after the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, s.
58 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq., and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42
59 U.S.C. s. 2000a. These barriers have resulted, in large part,
60 because the federal Equal Pay Act has not worked as Congress
61 originally intended. Improvements and modifications to the law
62 are necessary to ensure that the act provides effective
63 protection to those subject to pay discrimination on the basis
64 of their gender.
65 2. The Legislature finds that eliminating such artificial
66 barriers would have positive effects, including:
67 a. Providing a solution to problems in the economy created
68 by unfair pay disparities;
69 b. Substantially reducing the number of working women
70 earning unfairly low wages, thereby reducing the dependence on
71 public assistance;
72 c. Promoting stable families by enabling all family members
73 to earn a fair rate of pay;
74 d. Remedying the effects of past discrimination on the
75 basis of gender and ensuring that in the future female workers
76 are afforded equal protection; and
77 e. Ensuring equal protection under s. 2, Article I of the
78 State Constitution.
79 (d)1. The Legislature finds that the Agency for Workforce
80 Innovation and the Commission on Human Relations have important
81 and unique responsibilities to help ensure that women receive
82 equal pay for equal work.
83 2. The Agency for Workforce Innovation shall:
84 a. Collect and make publicly available information about
85 women's pay;
86 b. Ensure that companies receiving state contracts comply
87 with antidiscrimination and affirmative action requirements of
88 this state relating to equal employment opportunity;
89 c. Disseminate information about women's rights in the
90 workplace;
91 d. Help women who have been victims of pay discrimination
92 obtain a remedy; and
93 e. Be proactive in investigating and prosecuting violations
94 of laws requiring equal pay, especially systemic violations, and
95 in enforcing all mandates of those laws.
96 3. The Commission on Human Relations is the primary
97 enforcement agency for claims made under the Equal Pay Act, and
98 shall issue regulations and guidance on appropriate
99 interpretations of the law.
100 4. As a result of a stronger commitment by the Agency for
101 Workforce Innovation and the Commission on Human Relations to
102 their responsibilities, more effective remedies, and increased
103 information about the provisions added to the Equal Pay Act of
104 1963, this section, and wage data, women will be better able to
105 recognize and enforce their rights.
106 (e) The Legislature recognizes that certain employers have
107 already made great strides in eradicating unfair pay disparities
108 in the workplace and their achievements should be recognized.
109 (3) RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND OUTREACH.—The director of the
110 Agency for Workforce Innovation shall conduct studies and
111 provide information to employers, labor organizations, and the
112 public concerning the means that are available to eliminate pay
113 disparities between men and women. These efforts shall include:
114 (a) Conducting and promoting research to develop the means
115 to expeditiously correct the conditions leading to pay
116 disparities;
117 (b) Publishing and otherwise making available to employers,
118 labor organizations, professional associations, educational
119 institutions, the media, and the public findings resulting from
120 studies and other materials relating to eliminating pay
121 disparities;
122 (c) Sponsoring and assisting state and community
123 informational and educational programs;
124 (d) Providing information to employers, labor
125 organizations, professional associations, and other interested
126 persons on the means of eliminating pay disparities; and
127 (e) Recognizing and promoting the achievements of
128 employers, labor organizations, and professional associations
129 that have worked to eliminate pay disparities.
130 (4) THE GOVERNOR’S RECOGNITION AWARD FOR PAY EQUITY IN THE
131 WORKPLACE.—
132 (a) The Legislature establishes the Governor’s Recognition
133 Award for Pay Equity in the Workplace, which shall be awarded
134 annually to businesses in this state which have engaged in
135 activities that eliminate the barriers to equal pay for equal
136 work. The ceremony to recognize the employers shall be organized
137 in such a way so as to encourage proactive efforts by other
138 employers to equalize pay between men and women performing the
139 same work.
140 (b) The director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation and
141 the chairperson of the Commission on Human Relations, in
142 cooperation with the Executive Office of the Governor, shall
143 create criteria for employers to be eligible to receive the
144 award. The criteria shall include a requirement that an employer
145 must have made substantial efforts to eliminate pay disparities
146 between men and women and deserves special recognition as a
147 consequence of such efforts. The director shall establish
148 procedures for applications, regional ceremonies, and
149 presentations of the award.
150 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.