Lawmakers Begin Bipartisan Push to Close South Carolina's Gender Pay Gap
Bipartisan legislation has been filed in an effort to close the pay gap between men and women in South Carolina.
The Act to Establish Pay Equity was filed Jan. 15, with Democratic state Rep. Wendy Brawley filing a version of the bill in the state House and Lexington Republican state Sen. Katrina Shealy filing a version in the state Senate. The House version has been sent to the Judiciary Committee, while the Senate version was sent to the Labor Commerce and Industry committee.
Among other things, the proposal stipulates that employers would not pay an employee "less than the rate paid to employees of another race, religion, color, sex, including gender identity and sexual orientation, age, national origin or disability status for comparable work." It would also make it unlawful for an employer to request the salary history of a prospective employee.
According to a study commissioned by the Women's Rights and Empowerment Network, among full-time workers in South Carolina in 2015, women earned an average annual wage that was 27 percent lower than their male counterparts. Meanwhile, a September 2018 report from the National Partnership for Women and Families found that women across the country are paid 80 cents for every dollar paid to a man.
Read more: https://www.free-times.com/news/local-and-state-news/lawmakers-begin-bipartisan-push-to-close-sc-s-gender-pay/article_5f613a3c-19d3-11e9-9bd1-5b480f5ef769.html
