I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2243 
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to prohibit discrimination 
in the payment of wages on account of sex, race, or national origin, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 26, 2021 
Ms. NORTON 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 prohibit 
discrimination in the payment of wages on account of 
sex, race, or national origin, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Fair Pay Act of 2021’’. 
(b) REFERENCE.—Except as provided in section 8, 
whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed 
in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or 
other provision, the reference shall be considered to be 
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made to a section or other provision of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.). 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Wage rate differentials exist between equiv-
alent jobs segregated by sex, race, and national ori-
gin in Government employment and in industries en-
gaged in commerce or in the production of goods for 
commerce. 
(2) Discrimination in hiring and promotion has 
played a role in maintaining a segregated work 
force. 
(3) Many women and people of color work in 
occupations dominated by individuals of their same 
sex, race, and national origin. 
(A) While a wage rate differential exists in 
nearly every occupational field, traditionally 
male jobs tend to pay better than traditionally 
female jobs which require equal skill, effort, and 
responsibility, and which are performed under 
similar working conditions. 
(B) Traditionally male jobs that are low- 
wage require less skill, education, and certifi-
cations than traditionally female jobs that are 
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low-wage, despite their generally receiving high-
er pay. 
(4) In 2015, a woman in the United States 
working in a full-time, year-round job earned 80 
cents for every dollar earned by a man working in 
a full-time, year-round job. 
(A) The wage gap is larger when the data 
is disaggregated by race. Among women who 
hold full-time, year-round jobs in the United 
States, African-American women were paid on 
average, only 63 percent of what White men 
were paid in 2015, while Native Hawaiian and 
Other Pacific Islander women were paid 60 per-
cent, American Indian and Alaska Native 
women were paid 58 percent, and Hispanic and 
Latina women were paid only 54 percent. 
(B) The gender pay gap persists across 
educational levels. As a result, women who com-
plete college degrees are less able to pay off 
their student loans promptly, leaving them pay-
ing more and for a longer time than men. In 
2012, among students who graduated in 2007– 
2008, women working full time had paid off 33 
percent of their student loan debt on average, 
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while men working full time had paid off 44 
percent of their debt. 
(C) In the United States, mothers are pri-
mary or sole breadwinners in nearly 40 percent 
of families. Yet the wage gap for mothers is 
larger than for women overall. According to 
2013 data, mothers employed full time, year 
round are paid 71 cents for every dollar paid to 
fathers. It is worse for single mothers with full- 
time, year-round jobs, who are paid just 58 
cents for every dollar paid to fathers. 
(D) A conservative estimate is that women 
employed in the United States lose a combined 
total of nearly $500 billion every year due to 
the wage gap. These women, their families, 
businesses and the economy suffer as a result. 
Lost wages mean families have less money to 
save for the future or to spend on basic goods 
and services—spending that helps drive the 
economy. 
(E) Statistical analysis shows that 62 per-
cent of the wage gap can be attributed to occu-
pational and industry differences; differences in 
experience and education; and factors such as 
race, region and unionization. That leaves 38 
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(7) Artificial barriers to the elimination of dis-
crimination in compensation based upon sex, race, 
and national origin continue to exist more than five 
decades after the passage of section 6(d) of the Fair 
Labor Standards Act of 1938, the Equal Pay Act of 
1963, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 
2000a et seq.). Elimination of such barriers would 
have positive effects. 
(A) Problems in the economy created by 
discrimination through wage rate differentials 
would be reduced. In 2012, the U.S. economy 
would have produced additional income of 
$447.6 billion if women received equal pay; this 
represents 2.9 percent of 2012 gross domestic 
product. 
(B) Fewer working women and people of 
color would earn low wages, thereby reducing 
dependence on public assistance. The total in-
crease in women’s earnings with pay equity rep-
resents more than 14 times what the Federal 
and State governments spent in fiscal year 
2012 on Temporary Assistance to Needy Fami-
lies. 
(C) Working family members earning a 
fair rate of pay would encourage stable families 
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and reduce poverty. The poverty rate for all 
working women would be cut in half, falling to 
3.9 percent from 8.1 percent. The very high 
poverty rate for working single mothers would 
fall by nearly half, from 28.7 percent to 15.0 
percent, and two-thirds would receive a pay in-
crease. 
SEC. 3. EQUAL PAY FOR EQUIVALENT JOBS. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Section 6 (29 U.S.C. 206) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(h)(1)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), 
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, race, or national origin by paying 
wages to employees in such establishment in a job that 
is dominated by employees of a particular sex, race, or 
national origin 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 oppo-
site sex or of a different race or national origin, respec-
tively, for work on equivalent jobs, nor shall such employer 
between such employees on the basis of sex, race, or na-
tional origin in any other terms, conditions, privileges, or 
benefits of employment. 
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‘‘(B) Nothing in subparagraph (A) shall prohibit the 
payment of different wage rates to employees where such 
payment is made pursuant to— 
‘‘(i) a seniority system; 
‘‘(ii) a merit system; 
‘‘(iii) a system that measures earnings by quan-
tity or quality of production; or 
‘‘(iv) a differential based on a bona fide factor 
other than sex, race, or national origin, such as edu-
cation, training, or experience, except that this 
clause shall apply only if— 
‘‘(I) the employer demonstrates that— 
‘‘(aa) such factor— 
‘‘(AA) is job-related with respect 
to the position in question; or 
‘‘(BB) furthers a legitimate busi-
ness purpose, except that this item 
shall not apply if the employee dem-
onstrates that an alternative employ-
ment practice exists that would serve 
the same business purpose without 
producing such differential and that 
the employer has refused to adopt 
such alternative practice; and 
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‘‘(bb) such factor was actually applied 
and used reasonably in light of the as-
serted justification; and 
‘‘(II) upon the employer succeeding under 
subclause (I), the employee fails to demonstrate 
that the differential produced by the reliance of 
the employer on such factor is itself the result 
of discrimination on the basis of sex, race, or 
national origin by the employer. 
‘‘(C) The Equal Employment Opportunity Commis-
sion shall issue guidelines specifying criteria for deter-
mining whether a job is dominated by employees of a par-
ticular sex, race, or national origin for purposes of sub-
paragraph (B)(iv). Such guidelines shall not include a list 
of such jobs. 
‘‘(D) An employer who is paying a wage rate differen-
tial in violation of subparagraph (A) shall not, in order 
to comply with the provisions of such subparagraph, re-
duce the wage rate of any employee. 
‘‘(2) 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 paragraph (1)(A). 
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‘‘(3) For purposes of administration and enforcement 
of this subsection, any amounts owing to any employee 
that have been withheld in violation of paragraph (1)(A) 
shall be deemed to be unpaid minimum wages or unpaid 
overtime compensation under this section or section 7. 
‘‘(4) In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) The term ‘labor organization’ means any 
organization of any kind, or any agency or employee 
representation committee or plan, in which employ-
ees participate and that exists for the purpose, in 
whole or in part, of dealing with employers con-
cerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of 
pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work. 
‘‘(B) The term ‘equivalent jobs’ means jobs that 
may be dissimilar, but whose requirements are 
equivalent, when viewed as a composite of skills, ef-
fort, responsibility, and working conditions.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 13(a) (29 
U.S.C. 213(a)) is amended in the matter before paragraph 
(1) by striking ‘‘section 6(d)’’ and inserting ‘‘sections 6 
(d) and (h)’’. 
SEC. 4. PROHIBITED ACTS. 
Section 15(a) (29 U.S.C. 215(a)) is amended— 
(1) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (5) and inserting a semicolon; and 
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