THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC ) 
OF THE PHILPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
1 
S E N  
S.B. No. 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Constitution, Article 2, Section 14, provides: 
The State recognizes the role of women in nation-building, and shall 
ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men. 
Wage rate differentials exist between equivalent jobs segregated by sex in government 
employment and in industries engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce. 
The existence of such wage rate differentials depresses wages and living standards for 
employees necessary for their health and efficiency, prevents the maximum utilization of 
available labor resources, tends to cause labor disputes, and constitutes an unfair method of 
competition. 
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Hence, this bill seeks to prohibit discrimination in the payment of wages on account of 
sex. 


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THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC ) 
_ -  
OF THE PHEPPINES 
1 
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First Regular Session 
1 
S E N A T E  
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Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
TO PROHIBIT DISCRIMINATION IN THE PAYMENT OF WAGES 
ON ACCOUNT OF SEX 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Fair Pay Act.” 
SECTION 2. Equalpay for equivalent jobs. - (1) No employer having employees subject 
to any provision of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such 
employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees 
in such establishment in a job that is dominated by employees of a particular sex at a rate less 
than the rate at which the employer pays wages to employees in such establishment in another 
job that is dominated by employees of the opposite sex for work on equivalent jobs. 
(2) Nothing in clause.(l) shall prohibit the payment of different wage rates to employees 
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where such payment is made pursuant to - 
(A) a seniority system; 
(B) a merit system; or 
(C) a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production. 
(3) The Secretary of Labor shall issue guidelines specifying criteria for de ermining 
whether a job is dominated by employees of a particular sex. Such guidelines shall not ‘nclude a 
list of such jobs. 
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(4) An employer who is paying a wage rate differential in violation of subparagraph (A) 
shall not, in order to comply with the provisions of such subparagraph, reduce the wage rate of 
any employee. 


(5) No labor organization or its agents representing employees of an employer having 
employees subject to any provision of this section shall cause or attempt to cause such an 
employer to discriminate against an employee in violation of this Act. 
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(6) For purposes of administration and enforcement of this section, any amounts owing to 
any employee that have been withheld in violation of this Act shall be deemed to be unpaid 
minimum wages or unpaid overtime compensation under this section. 
(7) As used in this section, the term “equivalent jobs” means jobs that may be 
but whose requirements are equivalent, when viewed as a composite of ski 
responsibility, and working conditions. 
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SECTION 3. Separability Clause. - If any provisions or part hereof, is held invalid or 
unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain 
valid and subsisting. 
SECTION 4. Repealing Clause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive 
order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to or inconsistent 
with the provision of this Act is hereby repealed, modified, or amended accordingly. 
SECTION 5. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
En: 1973