JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi could become the final state to enact a law requiring equal pay for equal work by women and men, after the Republican-controlled state House and Senate passed the final version of a bill Wednesday.
The bill goes to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, and he has not said whether he will sign it. When he was lieutenant governor, Reeves let a similar bill die.
The Mississippi bill says a lawsuit must be filed within two years of when a worker “knew or should have known” about pay discrepancies.
If the lawsuit is successful, the worker could receive court costs, attorneys' fees and the amount she — or he — should have received to cover the wage gap. No additional financial damages would be allowed.
Cassandra Welchlin, leader of the Mississippi Black Women's Roundtable, advocates for equal pay but said the bill is “harmful” because it would allow an employer to pay a woman less than a man based on the pay history that workers bring into new jobs. She said the bill also allows lower pay if a worker has taken months or years off to care for children or older parents.
“During this pandemic, women have been forced to leave the workforce for caregiving responsibilities,” Welchlin said Wednesday. “It's just an equal pay bill in name only.”
House Bill 770 says businesses with at least five employees must pay equal wages to women and men who work fulltime jobs that require “equal skill, education, effort and responsibility" and that are done "under similar...
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