Florida Senate - 2016                                     SB 454
       
       
        
       By Senator Joyner
       
       
       
       
       
       19-00035-16                                            2016454__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to employment discrimination;
    3         providing a short title; providing legislative
    4         findings and intent relating to equal pay for equal
    5         work for women; recognizing the importance of the
    6         Department of Economic Opportunity and the Florida
    7         Commission on Human Relations in ensuring fair pay;
    8         providing the duties of the department and the
    9         commission in ensuring fair pay; creating the
   10         Governor’s Recognition Award for Pay Equity in the
   11         Workplace; requiring that the award be given annually
   12         to employers in this state who have engaged in
   13         activities that eliminate the barriers to equal pay
   14         for equal work for women; requiring the executive
   15         director of the department and the chair of the
   16         commission to create, in cooperation with the
   17         Executive Office of the Governor, eligibility criteria
   18         for employers to receive the award; requiring the
   19         executive director of the department to establish
   20         procedures for applications, ceremonies, and
   21         presentations of the award; providing an effective
   22         date.
   23          
   24  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   25  
   26         Section 1. Fair pay recognition; awards.—
   27         (1)SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the “Helen
   28  Gordon Davis Fair Pay Protection Act.”
   29         (2)LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT.—
   30         (a)The Legislature finds that women have entered the
   31  workforce in record numbers over the past 50 years. Yet, despite
   32  the enactment of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. s. 206(d),
   33  many women continue to earn significantly lower pay than men for
   34  equal work. These pay disparities exist in both the private and
   35  governmental sectors. In many instances, the pay disparities are
   36  the result of continued intentional discrimination against women
   37  or the lingering effects of past discrimination against women.
   38         (b)The Legislature finds that the existence of such pay
   39  disparities:
   40         1.Depresses the wages of working families who rely on the
   41  wages of all members of the family;
   42         2.Undermines the retirement security of women, which is
   43  based on the wages that women earn while in the workforce;
   44         3.Prevents the optimum use of available labor resources;
   45         4.Spreads and perpetuates, through commerce and the
   46  instrumentalities of commerce, among workers in all states;
   47         5.Burdens commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce;
   48         6.Constitutes an unfair method of competition in commerce;
   49         7.Leads to labor disputes;
   50         8.Interferes with the orderly and fair marketing of goods
   51  in commerce; and
   52         9.Deprives women workers of equal protection on the basis
   53  of gender in violation of the Fifth and the Fourteenth
   54  Amendments to the United States Constitution.
   55         (c)The Legislature finds that artificial barriers to the
   56  payment of equal wages continue to exist decades after the
   57  enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. ss.
   58  201 et seq., and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. s.
   59  2000a. These barriers have resulted, in large part, because the
   60  Equal Pay Act has not worked as Congress originally intended.
   61  Improvements and modifications to the law are necessary in order
   62  to ensure that the act provides effective protection to those
   63  who are subject to pay discrimination on the basis of their
   64  gender. The Legislature finds that eliminating such artificial
   65  barriers would have positive effects, including:
   66         1.Providing a solution to problems in the economy created
   67  by unfair pay disparities;
   68         2.Reducing substantially the number of women workers
   69  earning unfairly low wages, thereby reducing dependence on
   70  public assistance;
   71         3.Promoting stable families by enabling all family members
   72  to earn a fair rate of pay;
   73         4.Remedying the effects of past discrimination on the
   74  basis of gender and ensuring that, in the future, women workers
   75  are afforded equal protection; and
   76         5.Ensuring equal protection under s. 2, Article I of the
   77  State Constitution.
   78         (d)The Legislature finds that the Department of Economic
   79  Opportunity and the Florida Commission on Human Relations have
   80  important and unique responsibilities to ensure that women
   81  receive equal pay for equal work. This act, coupled with the
   82  collection and publication of wage data, increased information
   83  about revisions to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and a stronger
   84  commitment by the Department of Economic Opportunity and the
   85  Commission on Human Relations to their responsibilities and to
   86  more effective remedies, will better equip women to recognize
   87  and enforce their rights.
   88         (e)The Legislature further finds that certain employers
   89  have already made great strides in eradicating unfair pay
   90  disparities in the workplace and that their achievements should
   91  be recognized.
   92         (3) DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND
   93  THE FLORIDA COMMISSION ON HUMAN RELATIONS.—
   94         (a)The Department of Economic Opportunity shall:
   95         1.Collect and make publicly available information about
   96  women’s pay;
   97         2.Ensure that companies receiving state contracts comply
   98  with antidiscrimination and affirmative action requirements of
   99  this state relating to equal employment opportunity;
  100         3.Disseminate information about women’s rights in the
  101  workplace;
  102         4.Assist women who have been victims of pay discrimination
  103  to obtain a remedy;
  104         5.Be proactive in investigating and prosecuting violations
  105  of laws requiring equal pay, especially systemic violations, and
  106  in enforcing all mandates of those laws; and
  107         6. Conduct studies concerning the means that are available
  108  to eliminate pay disparities between men and women and, in
  109  connection with such studies, shall:
  110         a.Promote research to develop the means to expeditiously
  111  correct the conditions leading to pay disparities;
  112         b.Publish and otherwise make available to employers, labor
  113  organizations, professional associations, educational
  114  institutions, the media, and the public findings resulting from
  115  studies and other materials relating to eliminating pay
  116  disparities;
  117         c.Sponsor and assist state and community informational and
  118  educational programs;
  119         d.Provide to employers, labor organizations, professional
  120  associations, and other interested persons information on the
  121  means of eliminating pay disparities; and
  122         e.Recognize and promote the achievements of employers,
  123  labor organizations, and professional associations that have
  124  worked to eliminate pay disparities.
  125         (b)The Florida Commission on Human Relations is the
  126  primary enforcement agency for claims made under the Equal Pay
  127  Act and shall adopt rules and issue guidance on appropriate
  128  interpretations of the law.
  129         (4)THE GOVERNOR’S RECOGNITION AWARD FOR PAY EQUITY IN THE
  130  WORKPLACE.—
  131         (a)The Legislature establishes the Governor’s Recognition
  132  Award for Pay Equity in the Workplace, which shall be given
  133  annually to employers in this state who have engaged in
  134  activities that eliminate the barriers to equal pay for equal
  135  work. The award ceremony to recognize employers shall be
  136  organized in a way that encourages proactive efforts by other
  137  employers to equalize pay between men and women performing the
  138  same work.
  139         (b)The executive director of the department and the chair
  140  of the Florida Commission on Human Relations, in cooperation
  141  with the Executive Office of the Governor, shall create
  142  eligibility criteria for employers to receive the award. The
  143  criteria must include a requirement that an employer has made
  144  substantial efforts to eliminate pay disparities between men and
  145  women. The executive director shall establish procedures for
  146  applications, regional ceremonies, and presentations of the
  147  award.
  148         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.