Press Release: Women Should Get Equitable Pay

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Sen. Dave Donley
State Capitol, Room 508
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
Phone: (907) 465-3892
Fax: (907) 465-6595

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Sen. Robin Taylor
State Capitol, Room 30
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
Phone: (907) 465-3873
Toll Free: (877) 463-3873
Fax: (907) 465-3922

For Immediate Release: February 6, 2001

Contact: Senator Dave Donley at (907) 465-3892
Senator Robin Taylor at (907) 465-3873

(JUNEAU) -- Senator Dave Donley (R-Anchorage) and Senator Robin Taylor (R-Wrangell) recently introduced legislation that would ensure men and women receive equal pay for equal work in state jobs.

"If two workers perform the same or similar jobs, it is illegal under federal law to pay them different wages based solely on their sex," said Donley. "Although the State of Alaska has never done a study of pay equity, there is research showing existing wage disparities between the sexes in our state government. We know that Alaska women working for the state are being paid less than their male counterparts."

Senate Bill 65 addresses this inequity, providing a mechanism to bring the state into compliance with federal law, and putting an end to wage-based sex discrimination in state employment. The bill requires the Department of Administration to identify instances in which the state is illegally paying women less than men. When these disparities in pay are identified, the state will be able to develop phased strategies to eliminate sex discrimination.

"We should pass SB 65 because paying all of our workers fairly is the right thing to do," said Donley. "But we should also pass it because illegal pay structures can expose the state to expensive, time-consuming and divisive litigation. Legislators in Washington chose to ignore this problem in their state government and ultimately paid much more than it would have cost to equalize worker pay in the first place."

Donley has previously introduced legislation on this subject and hopes this proposal will meet with success.

SB 65 was referred first to the Senate State Affairs Committee.

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