Wisconsin Enacts Equal-Pay Law with Teeth
Governor signs bill that allows workers to seek damages as well as back pay
- Wisconsin has adopted one of the toughest pay-equality laws in the US, one that allows women and other workers to seek redress through not just back pay but also compensatory and punitive damages.
- The bill, signed into law by the governor in June 2009, exempts companies with fewer than 15 employees from most costs other than pay adjustments. It also limits all punitive damages, essentially to a cap of $300,000.
- Wisconsin already had legal remedies against pay discrimination, the WMC, a pro-business lobby, said via WisBusiness.com. “This new law will make Wisconsin less competitive as employers are confronted by increased workplace litigation,” said James A. Buchen, WMC vice president for government relations.
- A sponsor of the bill, State Senator Dave Hansen, said, “I’m not ready to tell my wife or daughters or any other woman that they need to accept less pay for the same job that a man is doing in order to save our economy.”
Sources: Senator Hansen’s office, WisBusiness.com
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