Rhode Island House OKs reworked pay-equity bill
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Seventy-two years after Rhode Island first passed a law making it illegal to pay a woman less than a man for the same work, the battle for equal pay flared anew at the Rhode Island State House in the closing hours of the 2018 legislative session, expected to end Friday.
After an emotion-charged, hour-plus debate that divided the female lawmakers into opposing camps, the House voted 66-to-9 on Thursday night in favor of a pay-equity bill that varies significantly from a version the Senate passed earlier.
House Labor Committee Chairman Robert Craven told colleagues the reworked House bill “strikes a fair balance in providing equal wages for equal work irrespective of race, color and gender, while taking into consideration the practical burdens that come with running a business.”
At its most basic, he said, the legislation requires employers with 18 or more employees to compensate equal work with equal pay. Among the new rules: employers would be prohibited from asking job applicants for their wage history, a practice blamed for perpetuating lower pay for women and minorities.
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