I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1935 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to enhance provisions 

related to pay discrimination, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 27, 2019 

Ms. STEFANIK (for herself, Mr. HURD of Texas, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. STIVERS, 

Ms. GRANGER, Mr. UPTON, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Mr. MARSHALL, 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. GIANFORTE, Mr. HUIZENGA, Mr. KATKO, Mr. 

COLE, Mrs. RODGERS of Washington, Mr. TURNER, Mr. BUCSHON, Mr. 

MCHENRY, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. HAGEDORN, Mr. WALDEN, Mr. 

SMUCKER, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. STEIL, Mr. FLORES, Mr. 

FORTENBERRY, Mr. REED, Mr. WRIGHT, Mr. COOK, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. 

GONZALEZ of Ohio, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. KING of New 

York, Mr. COLLINS of New York, Mr. STAUBER, Ms. HERRERA

BEUTLER, Mr. BALDERSON, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. BOST, 

Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. TIMMONS, Mr. DAVID P. ROE

of Tennessee, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. LATTA, Mr. BYRNE, Mr. KINZINGER, 

and Mr. LAHOOD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to enhance 

provisions related to pay discrimination, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be referred to as the ‘‘Wage Equity 

3 Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 (1) In 1963, Congress passed on a bipartisan 

6 basis the Equal Pay Act of 1963 to prohibit dis7 crimination on account of sex in the payment of 

8 wages for equal work performed by employees for 

9 employers engaged in commerce or in the production 

10 of goods for commerce. 

11 (2) Following the passage of such Act, in 1964, 

12 Congress passed on a bipartisan basis the Civil 

13 Rights Act of 1964. Since the passage of both the 

14 Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 

15 1964, women have made significant strides, both in 

16 the workforce and in their educational pursuits. 

17 (3) Currently, there are nearly 75,000,000 

18 women in the workforce, the most in American his19 tory. Of the 2,800,000 jobs created in 2018, 58 per20 cent went to women. This follows a trend that has 

21 been rising for some time. Women are graduating 

22 from college at a higher rate than their male counter 

23 parts, making up over 58 percent of all college de24 grees conferred in 2017. Additionally, according to a 

25 recent survey of working women, 49 percent of em26 ployed women are their family’s primary breadVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:32 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1935.IH H1935

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1 winner. Women hold the majority of positions in the 

2 five fastest growing fields. 

3 (4) Despite these advances there is still concern 

4 among the American public that gender-based pay 

5 discrimination has not been eliminated. 

6 SEC. 3. FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENT PLAN. 

7 Section 6(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 

8 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(d)) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ after ‘‘a system which 

11 measures earnings by quantity or quality or 

12 production’’; 

13 (B) inserting ‘‘; or (v) a flexible work ar14 rangement plan’’ after ‘‘any other factor other 

15 than sex’’; and 

16 (C) by inserting ‘‘job-related’’ before ‘‘fac17 tor other than sex’’; and 

18 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(5) In this subsection, the term ‘flexible work 

20 arrangement plan’ means a plan offered by an em21 ployer that an employee may opt into in which the 

22 employee agrees to certain scheduling benefits, in23 cluding— 

24 ‘‘(A) flexible scheduling. 

25 ‘‘(B) a telework program; or 


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1 ‘‘(C) a compressed work schedule program 

2 that allows the employee to work the equivalent 

3 of full-time employment over a fewer number of 

4 days by increasing the number of daily hours 

5 worked.’’. 

6 SEC. 4. PAY ANALYSIS. 

7 Section 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 

8 (29 U.S.C. 216) is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(f)(1) If an employer conducts a pay analysis audit 

11 and such audit reveals unlawful differentials in pay be12 tween equal jobs and such employer takes reasonable steps 

13 to address such differentials consistent with federal laws 

14 prohibiting pay discrimination, such employer shall not be 

15 liable for liquidated damages in an action brought against 

16 the employer for a violation of section 6(d) if such audit 

17 is conducted— 

18 ‘‘(A) in good faith to investigate such dif19 ferentials; and 

20 ‘‘(B) not earlier than the date that is 3 

21 years before the date on which the action is 

22 brought and not later than the date that is 1 

23 day before the action is brought. 

24 ‘‘(2) An audit under this section and remedial 

25 action taken in response to the findings of such 


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1 audit may not be discoverable or admissible for any 

2 purpose in any claim against the employer. 

3 ‘‘(3) An employer who has not completed an 

4 audit under this subsection shall not be subject to a 

5 negative or adverse inference as a result of not hav6 ing completed such audit.’’. 

7 SEC. 5. WAGE, SALARY, AND BENEFIT HISTORY; DISCUS8 SION OF WAGES. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Labor Standards Act of 

10 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

11 after section 7 the following new section: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 8. PROVISIONS RELATING TO WAGE, SALARY, AND 

13 BENEFIT HISTORY AND DISCUSSION OF 

14 WAGES. 

15 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENTS AND PROHIBITIONS RELATING

16 TO WAGE, SALARY, AND BENEFIT HISTORY.—It shall be 

17 an unlawful practice for an employer to— 

18 ‘‘(1) rely on the wage history of a prospective 

19 employee in considering the prospective employee for 

20 employment, including requiring that a prospective 

21 employee’s prior wages satisfy minimum or max22 imum criteria as a condition of being considered for 

23 employment, except that an employer may rely on 

24 wage history if it is voluntarily provided by a pro25 spective employee; 


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1 ‘‘(2) rely on the wage history of a prospective 

2 employee in determining the wages for such prospec3 tive employee, except that an employer may rely on 

4 wage history if it is voluntarily provided by a pro5 spective employee; 

6 ‘‘(3) require a prospective employee to disclose 

7 the wage history of such prospective employee; or 

8 ‘‘(4) discharge or in any other manner retaliate 

9 against any employee or prospective employee be10 cause the employee or prospective employee— 

11 ‘‘(A) opposed any act or practice made un12 lawful by this section; or 

13 ‘‘(B) took an action for which discrimina14 tion is forbidden under section 15(a)(3). 

15 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO DISCUSSION OF

16 WAGES.—Subject to subsection (c), it shall be an unlawful 

17 practice for an employer to— 

18 ‘‘(1) prohibit an employee from inquiring about, 

19 discussing, or disclosing the wages of the employee 

20 or another employee, if such employee has volun21 tarily disclosed the wages of such employee; 

22 ‘‘(2) prohibit an employee from requesting from 

23 the employer an explanation of differentials in com24 pensation among employees; or 


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1 ‘‘(3) take an adverse employment action against 

2 an employee for— 

3 ‘‘(A) conduct described under paragraphs 

4 (1) or (2); or 

5 ‘‘(B) encouraging employees to engage in 

6 conduct described in such paragraphs. 

7 ‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS RELATING TO DISCUSSION OF

8 WAGES.—(1) An employer may impose reasonable time, 

9 place, and manner limitations on conduct described under 

10 subsection (b) if such limitations are written and available 

11 to each employee. 

12 ‘‘(2) Such limitations may include a prohibition on 

13 the discussion by an employee of the wages of another em14 ployee if such employee did not voluntarily disclose the 

15 wages of such employee. 

16 ‘‘(d) SALARY EXPECTATION CONVERSATION.—Noth17 ing in this section shall be construed to prevent an em18 ployer from— 

19 ‘‘(1) inquiring about the salary expectations of 

20 a prospective employee; or 

21 ‘‘(2) providing information to such employee 

22 about the compensation and benefits offered in rela23 tion to the position. 

24 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘wage 

25 history’ means the wages paid to the prospective employee 


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1 by the prospective employee’s current employer or previous 

2 employer.’’. 

3 (b) PENALTY.—Section 16 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 

4 216) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

5 subsection: 

6 ‘‘(f) Any person who violates the provisions of section 

7 8 shall be liable to each employee for an amount equal 

8 to the sum of— 

9 ‘‘(1) $2,000 for a first offense, increased by an 

10 additional $500 for each subsequent offense, not to 

11 exceed $5,000; and 

12 ‘‘(2) with respect to an employee of the em13 ployer, the amount that the employee would have re14 ceived but for such violation and the amount actu15 ally received by such employee.’’. 

16 SEC. 6. NEGOTIATION SKILLS TRAINING. 

17 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor, 

19 after consultation with the Secretary of Education, 

20 is authorized to establish and carry out a grant pro21 gram. 

22 (2) GRANTS.—In carrying out the program, the 

23 Secretary of Labor may make grants on a competi24 tive basis to eligible entities to carry out negotiation 

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1 ing pay disparities, including through outreach to 

2 women and girls. 

3 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to re4 ceive a grant under this subsection, an entity shall 

5 be a public agency, such as a State, a local govern6 ment in a metropolitan statistical area (as defined 

7 by the Office of Management and Budget), a State 

8 educational agency, or a local educational agency, a 

9 private nonprofit organization, or a community10 based organization. 

11 (4) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

12 grant under this subsection, an entity shall submit 

13 an application to the Secretary of Labor at such 

14 time, in such manner, and containing such informa15 tion as the Secretary of Labor may require. 

16 (5) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity that receives a 

17 grant under this subsection shall use the funds made 

18 available through the grant to carry out an effective 

19 negotiation skills training program for the purposes 

20 described in paragraph (2). 

21 (b) INCORPORATING TRAINING INTO EXISTING PRO22 GRAMS.—The Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of 

23 Education shall issue regulations or policy guidance that 

24 provides for integrating the negotiation skills training, to 

25 the extent practicable, into programs authorized under— 


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1 (1) in the case of the Secretary of Education, 

2 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

3 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), the Carl D. Perkins 

4 Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 

5 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.), the Higher Education Act of 

6 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), and other programs 

7 carried out by the Department of Education that the 

8 Secretary of Education determines to be appro9 priate; and 

10 (2) in the case of the Secretary of Labor, the 

11 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 

12 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.), and other programs carried 

13 out by the Department of Labor that the Secretary 

14 of Labor determines to be appropriate. 

15 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

17 the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the Secretary 

18 of Education, shall prepare and submit to Congress a re19 port describing the activities conducted under this section 

20 and evaluating the effectiveness of such activities in 

21 achieving the purposes of this section. 

22 SEC. 7. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STUDY. 

23 The Comptroller General shall, not later than 180 

24 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, submit 

25 to Congress a study on the causes and effects of— 


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1 (1) pay disparities among men and women; 

2 (2) with respect to employees that leave the 

3 workforce for parental reasons (commonly referred 

4 to as the ‘‘Manager’s Gap’’), the impact on pay and 

5 opportunity potential; and 

6 (3) the disparities in negotiation skills among 

7 men and women upon entering the workforce. 

Æ 


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