On Equal Pay Day, Tester Calls for Vote on Paycheck Fairness Act

April 2 marks the day that the average American woman finally earns the same amount as her male counterparts earned the year before

(U.S. Senate) – On Equal Pay Day, U.S. Senator Jon Tester is standing with hardworking women across Montana and calling on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring the Paycheck Fairness Act up for a vote on the Senate floor.

“Equal work deserves equal worth-it’s just that simple,” Tester said. “By requiring employers to pay men and women the same amount for the same job, the Paycheck Fairness Act would enshrine this basic principle into law. That’s why I’m calling on my colleagues to bring this bill up for a vote, so we can finally get this commonsense piece of legislation signed into law.”

Equal Pay Day marks the day an average American woman finally earns the same amount as her male counterpart earned the year before. In 2018, women earned an average of 80 cents for every dollar an equally-qualified man earned, meaning women had to work an additional 92 days to catch up. The gap is even wider in Montana, where the median salary among women is almost $10,000 less a year than the median salary among men.

That’s why Tester helped reintroduce the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by making salary information more transparent, holding employers accountable for discriminatory practices, and strengthening protections and remedies for whistleblowers.

Tester has been a staunch advocate for the Paycheck Fairness Act, cosponsoring the bill in the last four Congresses and condemning his colleagues who voted against the bill in 2014.