After taking effect Jan. 1, a new state law meant to remedy instances of unequal pay for women and men who do comparable work has drawn just 17 complaints–and two were from men, state officials said Sunday.
To raise awareness of the law among workers and also to warn employers who may be in violation, Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Sunday announced the start of a $50,000 campaign to publicize the Illinois Equal Pay Act.
The governor signed the bill last Mother’s Day after it spent years in legislative limbo. Modeled on the 1963 federal Equal Pay Act, the law addressed wage disparities between women and men who do the same or substantially similar work at Illinois firms employing four or more, expanding the protected class of workers by about 330,000.
But since it has taken effect, the dozen Department of Labor investigators assigned to discrimination cases have seen relatively few complaints cross their desks and four cases have already been dismissed, officials said. The department’s acting director, Esther Lopez, said that the dismissed complaints did not meet the law’s criteria.
In a speech to female executives, union officials, day laborers, suburban mayors and allied legislators in the Loop offices of Exelon Corp., Blagojevich said the law rights wrongs that have been left unaddressed for years. “If you’re a woman and you do the same work as a man, you ought to be paid the same as a man,” he said.
Like federal law, the new state law says factors other than gender–including merit, seniority and quantity or quality of production–may be considered as valid reasons for pay differences.
Under the Illinois law, employers found in violation must make up back wages and may be forced to pay a $2,500 fine.
Lopez said her agency and the federal investigators are cooperating and their cases will not overlap.
Blagojevich acknowledged the low number of complaints and said the campaign is in part to address the possibility “that the word is not getting out.”
Like minimum-wage notices, the posters–which assert that an average woman earns 71 cents on every dollar earned by a man–will be required on the walls of thousands of workplaces across the state. They encourage those who feel they’re being cheated of income because of their gender to complain through a hot line, 866-EPA-IDOL. Posters are also expected to go up on CTA buses and trains; the state plans to broadcast public service announcements and run newspaper advertisements.
Lopez said the law does not apply only to women.
“It is gender-based discrimination, so a man can file,” she said.
But her spokeswoman, Stephanie Noble, said that some of the complaints so far have revealed misunderstanding of the law’s intent.
Men have filed claims against other men and women against women, she said. Some have mistakenly believed the law addresses racial discrimination.
“There has been a lot of confusion,” Noble said.
