Employment

MyWageGap.org

My Wage Gap

Women typically lose more than $11,000 a year because of the wage gap. What would you do with an extra $11,000?

Go to mywagegap.org.

Fair Treatment for Pregnant Workers

The National Women’s Law Center released a report on policies for employers to treat pregnant workers fairly.

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50 Years and Counting: The Unfinished Business of Achieving Fair Pay

The National Women’s Law Center released a report on the wage gap and policy solutions to close it.

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concerned woman

Frequently Asked Questions About Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Learn more about what sexual harassment in the workplace is and how you can stop it.

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Women in the Military

In recent years the number of women serving in the armed services has grown significantly, as have the obligations women have undertaken in our nation's defense.

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MyWageGap.org
Pregnant Workers
Fair Pay Report
Sexual Harassment
Women in the Military

Highlights

Reports & Toolkits | It Shouldn't Be a Heavy Lift: Fair Treatment for Pregnant Workers

June 18, 2013

Almost 35 years after the Pregnancy Discrimination Act made it illegal to discriminate against a woman because of her pregnancy, women still face discrimination on the job when they become pregnant. This report details what happens when some workers ask for temporary modifications of their job duties because of pregnancy, such as avoiding heavy lifting, staying off high ladders, or being permitted to sit down during a long shift. 

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Reports & Toolkits | 50 Years & Counting: The Unfinished Business of Achieving Fair Pay

June 10, 2013

THE EQUAL PAY ACT is the landmark law passed 50 years ago that requires employers to pay men and women equally for substantially equal work. Yet 50 years later, equal pay is still America’s unfinished business. 

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Fact Sheet | How the Paycheck Fairness Act Will Strengthen the Equal Pay Act

May 7, 2012

The Equal Pay Act (EPA) of 1963 made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform substantially equal work.  Yet today, women earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.  The Paycheck Fairness Act would update and strengthen the EPA by improving rememdies for pay discrimination, prohibiting employer retaliation, and facilitating class action suits in equal pay claims, among other strategies.

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Legal Briefs & Testimony | National Women's Law Center Encourages HELP Committee to Support Perez Nomination

April 18, 2013

The National Women's Law Center has urged the Senate HELP Committee to support the nomination of Thomas Perez for Secretary of the Department of Labor.

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Fact Sheet | The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act: Making Room for Pregnancy on the Job

May 29, 2013

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), introduced in both the House and the Senate, would let pregnant women continue to do their jobs and support their families by requiring employers to make the same sorts of accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions that they do for disabilities.  This fact sheet outlines the provisions of the bill and discusses the enormous impact its passage would have for working parents and their families.

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Fact Sheet | Closing the Wage Gap is Especially Important for Women of Color in Difficult Times

April 11, 2012

American women who work full-time, year-round are paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. But the wage gap is even larger for many women of color, with African-American women making only 62 cents, and Hispanic women only 54 cents, for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men. These gaps translate into a loss of $19,575 for African-American women and $23,873 for Hispanic women every year. Closing the wage gap is, therefore, particularly important for African-American and Hispanic women, who are already more likely to have lower incomes and to be in poverty than any other group.  

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More Resources

Fact Sheet | Still No Recovery for Women in the Manufacturing Sector: Manufacturing Employment Trends for Women and Men, 2008-2013

March 25, 2013

After decades of job losses, U.S. manufacturing has started to make a comeback—but women are not sharing in these gains.  Men gained 535,000 manufacturing jobs between January 2010 and February 2013, while women lost 18,000 manufacturing jobs over the same period. As policymakers focus on promoting manufacturing employment in the U.S., they should ensure that women share in this growth.

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Fact Sheet | Pregnant Workers Make Up a Small Share of the Workforce and Can Be Readily Accommodated: A State-By-State Analysis

March 21, 2013
Pregnant workers in physically demanding jobs are often terminated, forced to quit, or involuntarily placed on unpaid “medical” leave because they ask for simple, reasonable, and temporary accommodations during their pregnancy such as avoiding heavy lifting or a stool to sit on. Instead of honoring these requests, many employers jeopardize the health of women and their pregnancies by making pregnant workers choose between continuing to
work under unsafe conditions or losing their paycheck.  This fact sheet details the actual numbers of pregnant workers in the workforce, a subset of which may require accommodations at some point during their pregnancies.  
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Legal Briefs & Testimony | National Women's Law Center Files Amicus Brief In Re Wells Fargo Bank

March 13, 2013

The National Women’s Law Center filed this amicus brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to help explain why the court should deny Wells’ Fargo’s motion for a writ of mandamus in In Re Wells Fargo Bank.  The brief explains why the two-step approach for Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective actions is crucial for collective actions under the Equal Pay Act (EPA), and the ways in which collective actions are central to achieving the purposes of the EPA and the FLSA by ensuring that workers receive information necessary to assert their rights.  

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| Women Overrepresented in Union Membership Decline

February 14, 2013
In 2012, the rate of union membership sunk to a new low since the Great Depression, and a decline in union membership for women drove this drop. This fact sheet explains why this is a cause for concern.
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Legal Briefs & Testimony | National Women's Law Center Encourages Court Review in Veronese v. Lucasfilm Ltd.

February 13, 2013

The National Women's Law Center has written an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of California urging their review in the pregnancy discrimination matter Veronese v. Lucasfilm Ltd.

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