Governor Chris Christie Vetoes New Jersey Pay Equity Bill

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Governor Chris Christie Vetoes New Jersey Pay Equity Bill

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie yesterday blocked a bill aimed at closing the gender wage gap in the state, calling the legislation “business unfriendly.” The bill, S. 992, would have prohibited an employer from compensating one sex—in either wages or benefits—less than the other for doing “substantially similar work.” Whether the work was “substantially similar” would be determined by the level of skill, effort, and responsibility the job required. Employers could still compensate employees differently, but they would have to show that any differences were based on “bona fide factors other than sex, such as training, education or experience, or the quantity or quality of production.” The legislation further specified that bona fide factors had to be job-related and based on business necessity and could not perpetuate sex-based differentials in compensation.

Women in New Jersey, on average, are paid only 80 percent of what men make, slightly more than women nationwide, who are paid 79 percent. Both figures, however, are based on earnings, and do not factor in discrepancies in benefits.

The bill, which passed in both the state Assembly and the state Senate, would have offered stronger protections for workers than federal legislation. Unlike equal pay bills, which focus on equal work, the New Jersey bill promoted pay equity, a concept meant to combat gender-based discrimination that leads to women being clustered into certain jobs (that generally pay less) and men into others, even though those jobs may be substantially equivalent.

“The governor’s veto of this legislation is wrong,” said New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, the bill’s sponsor. “This legislation would have required employers to justify why a woman is not paid the same as a man for the same work, eliminating loopholes that allow inequities to persist if employees have different job titles.”

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http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2016/05/03/governor-chris-christie-vetoes-new-jersey-pay-equity-bill/