Equal pay means equal treatment for all workers. It means that an employer cannot pay employees within their company or organization different wages based on race, sex or ethnicity. It means that wages must be based on job requirements like skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions without consideration of race, sex, or ethnicity. In Washington State, equal pay was achieved at a cost of 2.6 percent of the state's personnel costs and was implemented over an eight-year period. Voluntary implementation of equal pay is cost effective, while court-ordered equal pay adjustments can lead to greater costs.
Discrimination is costly and illegal.
Again, part of the wage gap is attributed to differences in education, experiences and time in the work force. However, overwhelming evidence that wage discrimination persists in America can be found in numerous court cases and legal settlements, Department of Labor investigations, surveys of men and women on the job, and salary surveys that control for age, experience and time in the workforce. Further, the wage gap is seen across occupations. Women in managerial positions, female physicians and female computer programmers earn less than their male counterparts. While women sometimes take time out of the workforce to raise children, it should be noted that when couples are deciding who should stay home with children, the fact that the wife is earning a lower salary impacts that decision.