“The gender wage gap can be measured in dollars and cents, millions upon millions of them over the course of woman’s working life. It cannot be explained away by rhetoric about women’s ‘choices’ to take lower paying jobs or leave the workforce. The law prohibits pay discrimination. It has for a long time,” she wrote.

In concert with a high-power coalition of women’s groups, Equal Rights Advocates has sent letters to all 50 governors today, the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, calling for their help in closing a pay gap that disproportionately punishes women of color and low wage-earners. For more on the Equal Pay Today! campaign, click here.

In one case, ERA helped tradeswoman Jeanine Dubois, who works as an electrician for the City & County of San Francisco, receive compensation and other relief for her claims of sex discrimination in pay and promotions. At ERA, we know that tradeswomen are historically discriminated against at work in male-dominated industries.

ERA attorneys also have successfully negotiated a string of settlements on behalf of pregnant women who were denied modest accommodations at work or fired when they requested them. One woman, who worked as a machine operator at a mailing and marketing services company and spoke only Spanish, was retaliated against and fired after taking her pregnancy leave. As part of the settlement, that company will improve its leave notices and translate them into other languages. A second woman, an East African immigrant who works in health care, was fired after requesting pregnancy leave. In addition to the monetary settlement, the company agreed to seal her dismissal records and she was able to get a job with a different employer.

“ERA takes a truly holistic approach to advocating for the rights of women and girls,” said ERA Legal Director Jennifer Reisch.  “Coupled with our work on broader impact litigation, like Dukes v. Wal-Mart, and our legislative advocacy on issues such as equal pay and fair treatment of working families, we believe that the direct service element of our work is an essential part of our overall strategy to ensure gender justice,” Reisch added.  “It is also extremely effective in bringing about necessary and timely changes in schools and workplaces.”

ERA will continue to negotiate and litigate on behalf of women workers who face barriers to equal employment opportunity and fair pay. For more information on our advocacy on behalf of women workers, click here. You can also support the rights of women and working families by joining our national and California campaigns to strengthen protections for caregivers and pregnant women at work here.

On May 29, the California State Senate passed SB 404, a bill authored by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Dist. 19) and co-sponsored by Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), the California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA) and the Center for Worklife Law at UC Hastings. The bill will prohibit employers from discriminating against an employee based on his or her family responsibilities by adding “familial status” to the list of characteristics that are prohibited bases of discrimination under the employment provisions of the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act.

As the law stands now, employees must draw on a patchwork of laws to show that an employer discriminated against the employee for being a primary caregiver by trying to prove that caregiving is a type of sex discrimination.  Many employers base adverse employment decisions on preconceived notions about family responsibilities. For example, employers may reduce an employee’s hours without the employee’s consent or pass over these employees for promotions.  This bill clarifies the law protecting caregivers giving guidance to both employees and employers about the rights of workers with family responsibilities.

“Today more and more workers are juggling both work and family care obligations, and the demands for elder care are projected to increase dramatically in the near future,” says Jamie Dolkas, Staff Attorney at ERA. “SB 404 provides much-needed protection to ensure that workers will not be treated unfairly because they care for their family members.”

Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights and Bills Protecting Immigrant Workers From Retaliation Move Forward in California Legislature

Also on May 29, the Assembly passed “The Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights,” (AB 241) introduced by Tom Ammiano (D-Dist. 17).  This bill would protect domestic workers, including nannies and those who provide in-home care, by regulating wages, providing for rest time, and protecting other working conditions.

While it exempts certain employers such as licensed health facilities or people who receive domestic care from the State of California or In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), AB 241 defines employers of domestic workers as those who employ or exercise control over the wages, hours or working conditions of a domestic work employee, including those who obtain the services from third parties.

The same day, the California Senate passed SB 666, a bill authored by Senator Darrell Steinberg (D- Dist. 6 and President pro Tem), that would prohibit employers from threatening to report undocumented workers or their families when they exercise their labor and employment rights.  Employers may also risk losing their business licenses for retaliating against these employees.

Attorneys who use immigration status to threaten and intimidate witnesses would also face discipline, and whistle blowing protections would be extended to employees who testify before a legislature or other public body about anything related to a government investigation of the employer

AB 263, another bill protective of immigrant workers’ rights and, introduced by Roger Hernández (D-Dist. 48), passed through the Assembly. This bill would prevent employers from engaging in unfair immigration-related practices toward employees who assert their labor and employment rights. Unfair immigration-related practices would include threats of improperly using the Federal E-Verify system, requests of extraneous documents showing an employees’ eligibility to work, and threats of filing reports or contacting immigration authorities in response to an employee’s exercise of his or her rights.

“Equal Rights Advocates applauds the advancement of these three bills in the state legislature,” said Monali Sheth, Staff Attorney at ERA. “ AB 241, the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, provides domestic workers the right to work for a living wage, decent working conditions, and with dignity, while SB 666 and AB 263 further protect the immigrant women we represent who are afraid of coming forward to complain when they have been overworked, underpaid, abused, and unlawfully harassed on the job.”

This post was written by Sonia Jacob, an ERA summer law clerk.

The award, to be presented at ERA’s luncheon on June 13, 2013, is given annually to a social justice advocate who embodies ERA’s mission to fight for women’s equality. This year’s luncheon focuses on issues of equal pay and wage justice, and marks the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act.

Jayaraman is a founder and co-director of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a non-profit social justice organization that seeks to improve working conditions for food service workers. In February, Jayaraman published Behind the Kitchen Door, an exposé on poor working conditions in America’s restaurants.

“ERA’s fight for gender justice at work could not happen without visionary partners like Saru Jayaraman,” said ERA Executive Director Noreen Farrell. “Her incredible efforts on behalf of restaurant workers have exposed injustices faced by far too many low wage workers served by ERA. We honor the tireless advocacy of Saru and her colleagues at ROC for standing up to ensure that workers are paid fairly, are safe from harassment, and receive leave time when critical to their health or the health of their families. We thank Saru and ROC for helping us build a movement that promotes gender equity and justice for all workers.”

The United States food service industry employs 10 million workers, of which less than one percent are unionized, according to ROC-United. In Behind the Kitchen Door, Jayaraman combines personal narratives and investigative journalism to explore the “dark side of dining out”: discriminatory labor practices, exploitation, and unsanitary kitchens.

A graduate of Yale Law School and a frequent public speaker on the topic of low wage earners’ rights, Jayaraman currently serves as Director of Food Research at the University of California, Berkeley.

For more information on ERA’s luncheon, or to buy tickets, visit events.equalrights.org. To learn more about ERA’s campaign to Close the Wage Gap, click here.

While counseling her on how to navigate her work situation, ERA prepared a demand letter on her behalf.  ERA successfully negotiated a settlement for the woman, which among other things, required the company to strengthen its internal sexual harassment policies and complaint procedure. Our client has recently found new employment and is happy she can now put the mistreatment she experienced behind her.

For more on how ERA supports marginalized women workers, click here. To reach the Advice and Counseling hotline, click here.

Ms. Ledbetter is known nationwide for her groundbreaking sex discrimination case against her former employer, Goodyear Tire. The litigation inspired  the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed into law in 2009. Ms. Ledbetter is the author of Grace and Grit, a memoir of her struggle against pay discrimination. Ms. Ledbetter will be signing copies of the book after the luncheon.

Additionally, workers’ rights advocate Saru Jayaraman, co-founder of Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC), will receive ERA’s Champion of Justice Award. Ms. Jayaraman, who in February published Behind the Kitchen Door: The People Who Make and Serve Your Food to rave reviews, is a tireless advocate of wage justice and fair treatment for low wage workers.

ERA has taken on the cause of pay equity in the halls of Congress, supporting the pending Paycheck Fairness Act, and in the courts.  ERA’s attorneys are among those representing plaintiffs in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., filed on behalf of a putative class of thousands of  women who work at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in California. Later this month, plaintiffs will argue a motion to certify the class before Judge Charles Breyer in the Northern District of the U.S. District Court. Plaintiffs allege systemic discrimination against women in compensation and promotions at the two chains of stores.

This year’s luncheon theme, Close the Wage Gap, will focus on narrowing the disparity in pay between men and women across industries, as well as opening up access to jobs in traditionally male-dominated industries like science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).  Learn more about ERA’s Close the Gap campaign at http://www.equalrights.org/era-launches-close-the-gap-campaign-for-equal-pay/.

“The gender wage gap infects women in every profession, age bracket, educational level, and income,” said ERA Executive Director Noreen Farrell.  “It results in women losing hundreds of thousands of dollars by the end of their professional lives.  ERA is committed to ending pay secrecy that keeps women in the dark about their wages and underpaid.”

More than 800 individuals, including prominent ERA supporters, attorneys, business leaders, civil and women’s rights advocates, and elected officials will be in attendance at this highly anticipated annual event. Sponsors include Wells Fargo, Hanson Bridgett LLP, Farella Braun + Martel LLP, and the Kazan McClain Satterley Lyons Greenwood & Oberman Foundation, and many more.

Funds raised from the Luncheon are vital to ERA’s work. This includes ERA’s hallmark precedent-setting litigation, legislative advocacy toward better protection of women’s rights, and the operation of a national toll-free Advice & Counseling Hotline, which receives more than a thousand calls annually from women and girls seeking legal assistance.

Sponsorships and tickets to the luncheon are available now. Please go to events.equalrights.org for more information.

Equal Rights Advocates knows that women and men coming out of jail face serious barriers to finding work. SB 649 will help the countless women with low-level possession convictions in California (a large portion of incarcerated women) become contributing members of society. Letting these women work is critical to their economic security and the economic security of their families. Read more about ERA’s campaign to remove those barriers here.

“We are happy that the Senate had the good sense to pass SB 649.  The bill will help many of California’s women to access community-based programs that will help them successfully reenter society and get jobs to support themselves and their families,” Munro said.

To read more about laws aiming to help those with conviction histories re-enter society, read this recent New York Times article.

To read more about SB 649, sponsored by the ACLU and other groups, click here.

It aggregates job ads posted by tech companies that are startling in their sexist nature. When we saw the blog (and the ads) last week, we knew we had to act and send a letter to all the companies, asking them to re-think their ads. Check out my letter below, and co-sign in the comments.

Dear [tech company],

My name is Noreen Farrell, and I’m the executive director at Equal Rights Advocates, a non-profit law firm advocating for women’s equality at work and at school.  I’m writing because I found your company listed in a recent blog post.

In the 40 years since our founding, ERA has worked tirelessly to break down economic and social barriers faced by women who want to work, or raise families, or both. On June 13, we’ll gather with our closest friends and supporters to mark the 50^th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act – a seminal piece of legislation meant to ensure women have equal access to the economic security and social capital of a good job.

You can imagine, then, how heartened I was to see your company’s immediate response when listed on the Tech Companies That Only Hire Men blog, which aggregates employment ads from startups and other tech companies. Your original ad, presumably meant to target the highest quality candidates regardless of sex, solicited only a “he.”  But after being identified on the blog, you company took the important step of acknowledging the error and changing or deleting the post.

Why does non-inclusive language matter?

We know that women’s median earnings are lower than men’s in nearly all occupations, whether they work in occupations dominated by women, men, or in jobs with an even mix. But women are also more than twice as likely as men to work in occupations with poverty-line wages.  Male dominated jobs tend to pay more than female-dominated jobs at similar skill levels, particularly at higher levels of educational attainment.  Jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics not only pay better and more equally across the sexes than non-STEM jobs, they also have higher rates of full-time year-round employment.  Ensuring the access of women to these jobs is critical to ending occupational segregation that depresses women’s wages.

We also know that qualified women candidates exist. We hear from these women every day, and we bet you will too now that you advertise for them.  Thank you for editing your existing and future ads to call for “s/he.” It’s better for your business. It’s better for women. It’s better for everyone.

If you send us a copy of your revised job ad, we’ll be sure to let ERA’s supporters know you’ve committed to equal and fair hiring.  My sincere thanks for partnering with us on this important effort.

All the best,

Noreen Farrell

Redmund Sum owns and operates an electronics manufacturer and distributor called Silver Center America in Fremont.

According to one of the plaintiffs, Britanni Brown, Sum routinely made inappropriate sexual comments at work to the discomfort of his two sole female employees. The misconduct escalated though, when Sum groped and fondled Brown in his office, telling her that he had “always wanted” to do that.

ERA Legal Director Jennifer Reisch and Staff Attorney Monali Sheth, who represent the two women, say that such mistreatment of female workers is altogether too common.

“Unfortunately, sexual harassment and assault of women at work has become national epidemic,” said Sheth. “This case highlights the acuity of the problem in male-dominated industries like electronics manufacturing. What our clients have experienced on the job is extremely disturbing, and ERA will continue its advocacy until the workplace is safe and free of harassment for all women.”

To read a copy of the complaint in Brown et al v. Silver Center America, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, click here.

Last week, Jamie appeared as a keynote speaker at the American Association of University Women-Wisconsin‘s annual conference. Next week, she’s off to Rome, Italy to speak at the midyear-meeting of the American Bar Association’s International Labor & Employment Law Committee. There, Jamie will speak a panel that will discuss caregiver discrimination in the workplace and how this issue is being addressed in the United States, Europe, and Canada.

While in Wisconsin, Jamie spoke on the importance of one of ERA’s biggest cases — Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, a class action lawsuit against the retail giant alleging that company executives systematically discriminated against women in pay and promotion, all in the name of saving money. A case like Dukes, Jamie argued in her remarks, is the exact reason for national equal pay reforms. (If you’d like to support ERA’s efforts to close the gender wage gap, you can learn more here.)

While in Italy, Jamie and her other panel members will address the growing barriers faced by mothers (and fathers) in the American workplace. From caregiver discrimination to a lack of access to affordable daycare and an absence of access to paid leave laws, America is becoming an increasingly hostile place to work and raise a family at the same time. For more information on the ABA conference, click here.