As expected, the new Democratic-controlled House of Representatives has taken the first steps to advance workplace legislation that had been bottled up for years by the outgoing Republican majority. In what is likely to be only the first in a line of expansive bills to follow, the House Committee on Education and Labor last week, on a party-line vote, approved the so-called Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA or H.R. 7) to significantly expand the federal Equal Pay Act.
H.R. 7 appears to be on the fast track for consideration and approval by the full House of Representatives, where Democrats now have a comfortable majority. And while there is no sign by the Senate Republican leadership that it has any plans to bring the bill up there, the PFA remains a top priority for congressional Democrats, and they are expected to keep pushing for its enactment.
A copy of H.R. 7 as approved by the House Labor Committee is available here.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.