Today is Equal Pay Day!

This is an issue worth mentioning in a Con Law blog as it definitately has constitutional implications, and may soon inspire Congressional action.  First, a few facts:

- Equal Pay day is always on a Tuesday because a woman has to work from Monday of one week through the Tuesday of the following week to earn what her male counterpart earns Monday through Friday in one week.

- Equal Pay day is always a Tuesday in April because that is how long a woman must work to match her male counterparts wages from the previous year.

- According to the ACLU, "Women who work full time still earn, on average, 78 cents for every dollar men earn, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For women of color, the numbers are worse. In 2008, African-American women earned only 63 cents and Latinas only 52 cents for each dollar earned by a white male."

The interested groups propose the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act.  The draft bill states that the legislation is needed because the discrimination "has been spread and perpetuated, through commerce and the channels and instrumentalities of commerce, among the workers of the several States;" burdens commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce;" and "may deprive workers of equal protection on the basis of sex in violation of the 5th and 14th amendments."

We'll continue to monitor the legislative developments.

NLS