HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-05-15 Simmons Public Comment supporting Equal Pay for Equal Work resolutionFrom:Pat Simmons
To:Agenda
Subject:supporting Equal Pay for Equal Work resolution
Date:Friday, June 05, 2015 5:54:19 PM
Fair Pay for Women
Come join many of us speaking out about pay equality on Monday, June 8th at 5:00 PM at the City
Commission meeting, when Bozeman Business & Professional Women’s organization will be asking
the City Commission to adopt our Resolution for the City to audit its own employee salary records,
and to encourage all Gallatin Valley businesses do the same for their businesses.
Many of us don’t know we aren’t getting paid equally. Some organizations have policies that tell
employees not to talk about salaries to other employees. Lilly Ledbetter is a great example of this,
as she worked for 19 years as an area Manager for Goodyear Tire & Rubber in Alabama. When she
was ready to retire, a secret note was slipped to her that showed her salary compared to the other
Managers; she was shocked to learn that she was paid $500 less per month than the lowest paid
male area manager, irrespective of her seniority and experience. This lead to her lawsuit, taken all
the way to the US Supreme Court, which ruled against her because she hadn’t filed her suit timely.
How could she due to the secret salary policy? The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed in 2009, to
loosen the time requirements for filing discrimination suits became law in 2009. This Act still didn’t
go far enough, nor the Equal Pay Act of 1963, to correct the continuing discrimination against
women regarding pay. I have been working since college graduation for 47 years and haven’t ever
known if I’ve been paid equally. I’ve assumed that if I accomplish my responsibilities and receive
excellent reviews, that I would be paid the same as a man doing the same job in the same
organization. Do you know if you are paid equally?
This is what I submitted to the Chronicle. I’ll be at the meeting. I sure hope you will all support the
resolution. Thank you.
Pat
Pat Simmons
psimmons100@gmail.com