Equal Pay ActEssay title: Equal Pay ActEqual Pay ActThere are many laws and regulations that govern how the American work force is compensated. In most cases, the laws are set forth to protect the employee against unfair compensation practices. Many of the issues Americans face today are the same issues that existed many years ago. Issues involving labor relations, unions, and men versus women are many of the same issues we face today involving compensation. The Equal Pay Act is on of great interest to me as it covers compensation and how it relates to men and women. This act is one that many people rely heavily upon in today’s workforce.
Before explaining exactly what the Equal Pay Act is, one must understand its true meaning in today’s world. As explained by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “The Equal Pay Act requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work in the same establishment. The jobs need not be identical, but they must be substantially equal. It is job content, not job titles, that determines whether jobs are substantially equal” (Equal Pay…, 2006). The last sentence is particularly interesting; It is job content, not job titles… This is a way of identifying and capturing that a person is compensated not by title, rather what they do. The Act evolved from the fact that the male gender typically was paid much higher for the same job than a female.
The Equal Pay Act was introduced and enforced in 1963 by the EEOC. To take it a bit further, employers cannot pay men and women differently if job is basically the same skill, repsonsibility, and effort. Skill is defined by what skills it takes to perform the particular job. This is not to be confused with what skills a person possesses. Two people may possess many of the same skills yet one of them holds a much larger array of skills. That person is not to be compensated more to perform the same job. Effort involves what is physically or mentally required for a person to complete the job. If one task requires a great deal more physical effort, that person can be paid more than the person who is performing a task which requires little effort. Lastly, responsibility involves accountability on the job. If someone is given great responsibility, they can be compensated on a higher level. This is often why exempt employees are usually paid higher than non-exempt; the roles and responsibilities
are entirely different.One organization known as the National Organizaiton for Women is still attempting to even out the compensation differences between men and women. According to the article Women in Red! Equal Pay Day is April 15th, the organization claims that women are still paid much lower wages than men. “According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics, women today, on average, are paid only 76 cents in wages for every dollar that men are paid. That represents a snail-like increase of less than a cent per year since the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963, when women were paid 59 cents compared to a mans dollar in wages. If the same pace continues, we may not achieve parity until 2042!” (Women in Red…, 2003). This is an alarming statistic
We recently found that women are not paid the same in benefits and other social benefits as men but are entitled to health care, education, housing, and other benefits that their male counterparts do not have. According to a 2004 report done by the National Alliance for Women and Economics, in fiscal 2003 a third of all men claimed health care and benefits, but just over five-in-ten women said they received assistance from other sources.
As many as half of all U.S. mothers, aged 35 to 54, were living on benefits last year in comparison to just 17% who said they received assistance from a carer. In states such as Colorado, Arizona, and Connecticut, women are no longer entitled to medical care without health insurance, in part because a 2007 report by the CDC was released that found a significant increase over the period between 2000 and 2008 in a country for which Medicaid has not yet existed.
In a new report by the National Women’s Medicine Council (NMWC) and Women’s and Community Health Center (WHCHC), the report, “Women and Health at Work: Why Women Can’t Make Healthcare Work for Themselves,” describes a new, nationwide strategy to address the fact that most women still aren’t paid the same for health coverage they once had or had had access to under a national insurance system (with no health benefits at all). Women’s and health care workers in the U.S. are now being required to provide all types of health care for Medicare and Medicaid, and the percentage of those who are entitled to health benefits have been set in check.
“The reality is that when women and their medical needs are being met while they work full time, it is not enough to simply get those essential services at a minimum wage. You have to work for something,” said Mary A. Dettmer, an OB/GYN at Hoekea Hospital in Oregon, who serves as a co-author with Dr. Dettmer of Women and Health at Work.
A 2014 Kaiser Family Foundation study, also published in JAMA Internal Medicine, revealed that more women than ever expected to lose Medicaid because of the Obamacare health insurance exchanges, and that by 2012 only 11% of those enrolled in health care coverage had the funds to pay for the basic medical care that is covered by Medicaid’s program. That number has increased to nearly 62% as women age 35 to 54 are receiving additional health care and receive the same coverage they once had, but the percentage who are not receiving such benefits has more than doubled between 2002 and 2012, leaving them with less than half the income expected.
A 2010 report titled “The Gender Pay Gap in Women’s Health Care in Healthcare Businesses: Women and Health Care Costs, Access and Retireeships and Outcomes,” found that the disparity between men’s and women’s health care care is even starker. On average, nearly 40% of men have health insurance coverage