Equal pay bill sent to Mississippi governor’s desk

(The Center Square) – Equal pay is the focus of a bill that is headed to Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves’ desk.

House Bill 770, sponsored by Rep. Angela Cockerham, I-Adams, was passed Wednesday following conference committee. The bill, known as the Mississippi Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, would provide for men and women to be paid the same wage for the same job.

Lynn Fitch, the state’s attorney general, said the bill’s passage is a step forward for women in the workplace.

“Today, the Legislature has taken a critical step forward for empowering women by passing a law promoting equal pay for equal work for Mississippi women,” Fitch said in a news release. “When Gov. Reeves signs this bill into law, we will join the rest of the nation in promoting the basic fairness of equal pay.

“We will take a giant leap forward in closing the 27% pay gap – a pay gap that makes it harder for working women and their families, that leads to young Mississippi women taking their talents beyond our borders, and that perpetuates the cycle of poverty in our state.”

Many thanks to the MS Legislature for giving MS women a law for Equal Pay for their Equal Work. Now it goes to Governor @tatereeves for signature into law. https://t.co/23nyc4Tg4C pic.twitter.com/KHj5MNJ9NG— Lynn Fitch (@LynnFitchAG) March 30, 2022

The bill originally passed the House on Jan. 20 with a 114-6 vote, and then passed the Senate on March 9 with a 42-9 vote.

Under the bill, no employer would be permitted to pay an employee “a wage at a rate less than the rate at which an employee of the opposite sex in the same establishment” would be paid for “equal work on a job.”

Criteria would be set under the bill for the basis of equal pay based on “equal skill, education, effort and responsibility” and are “performed under similar working conditions.” The only exception would be when a differential in wages would be encumbered based on seniority, merit, or a system that would measure quantity or quality of production, or any other factor than sex.

The bill would address the pay issue by conducting a salary history or continuity of employment history that would be demonstrated by the employee that would be compared to employees of the opposite sex in the same workplace.

The issue would take into consideration the extent of competition with other employers for an employees’ service that would be compared to employees of the opposite sex in the same workplace. The bill also takes into consideration the extent an employee would attempt to negotiate for higher wages compared to opposite sex workers in the workplace.

The bill also would provide for its provisions to be enforced under civil suits in the county in which the cause of action takes place. If an employer violates the bill the employee would be awarded reasonable remedies, which could include attorney’s fees, prejudgment interests and back pay and also the full difference of the unpaid wages contested in the suit.

To equal pay, under the bill, an employer would not be permitted to lower a wage to comply with the act to appease an employee. In addition, an employer would be prevented from terminating or discriminating against an employee as a form of retaliation for any reason taken by the employee to address wages pertaining to the bill.

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