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LANSING – In a move to protect fair wages for all Michigan employees, State Representatives Fred Miller (D-Mount Clemens) and Frank Accavitti (D-Eastpointe) today announced a plan to crack down on wage discrimination and hold employers accountable when they do not provide equal pay for equal work.

"The wage gap hurts everyone," Miller said. "Not only women are shortchanged when they are paid less – families get shortchanged too. Families are left with less money to put food on the table, make mortgage payments, or finance a child's college education. We must demand equal pay for equal work."

Michigan ranks 49^th in the nation for the wage parity between men and women, according to the Michigan Pay Equity Network. Working women in Michigan are paid 67 cents for every dollar men make – a 33 percent pay gap. This puts Michigan far behind the national gender pay gap of 77 cents per dollar.

The Democratic plan sets down new penalties for wage discrimination and creates new legal avenues to pursue those who discriminate and deprive employees of their right to wage fairness. The plan will:

·         Make failure to provide equal compensation for equal work a violation of the state's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.

·         Make gender-based pay discrimination a misdemeanor. Employers could face fines up to $500 or up to 90 days in jail for not complying.

·         Create a Commission on Pay Equity in the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, comprised of state leaders and community and business representatives.  

·         Create penalties of up to $50,000 for repeat offenders.

Sixty-two percent of working women who responded to a 2004 AFL-CIO survey said they provide half or more of their families' incomes. Unequal pay costs an average family more than $4,000 a year – which means that America's working families lose $2 billion annually.[1]  

"This is a family issue – more and more families need two incomes to make ends meet," Accavitti said. "When companies shortchange women, their families pay the price. Our plan moves Michigan forward."

The proposal comes as the nation prepares to mark Equal Pay Day on April 24. Equal Pay Day is held annually in April to represent how far into the year a woman must work to be paid what a man made in the previous year. Individuals and groups from around the state supported the House Democrats' plan and today called on lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to back equal pay.

Over the course of a lifetime, the average American woman working full time loses $700,000 to
$2 million, according to Evelyn Murphy, an economist and president of The WAGE Project.

Representative Accavitti noted that the National Committee on Pay Equity estimates that it will take until 2057 for women's wages to catch up to men's wages in this country.

Miller, who is Chair of the House Labor Committee, is developing a proposal that would drastically increase penalties. Under his plan, corporations that continue to violate wage-parity laws would face steep fines – up to $50,000 for the third and subsequent violations.

"We must hold corporations accountable when they fail to provide equal pay for equal work," Miller said. "With tougher penalties, employers will realize that they cannot afford to discriminate against the employees who drive Michigan's economy."

Testimony on the Democrats' plan will be heard tomorrow, April 24, before the House Labor Committee. The hearings are scheduled for 9 a.m. in Room 307 of the Anderson House Office building, 124 N. Capitol in Lansing. Miller said he hopes the House acts quickly on the bills.

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