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New Pay Discrimination Bill Would Let Government Collect Payroll Records of Private Companies
Friday, March 12, 2010
By Matt Cover, Staff Writer


New $20 currency notes roll off the presses at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. (AP File Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)





(CNSNews.com) – A bill taken up by a Senate panel on Thursday would empower the federal government to collect the payroll information of private companies and analyze it in an effort to prevent gender-based pay discrimination, which has been illegal since 1963.

The law would compel the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to begin mandatory collection of payroll data from private employers, under penalty of law. These data must be broken down by job type, race, and, gender. The government would then analyze the data to determine if companies are violating equal pay laws, which prohibit pay discrimination based on gender.

Known as the Paycheck Fairness Act, the law was passed by the House of Representatives more than one year ago – Jan. 9, 2009 – but had languished in the Senate until Thursday, when it was taken up in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart Ishimaru, who testified before the HELP committee on Thursday, told CNSNews.com that the law would require the EEOC to collect payroll data from private companies. However, he said that it was still “to be determinedâ€