WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Lois Frankel (FL-21) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today released the following statement in support of the National Women’s Law Center, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), and Democracy Forward’s lawsuit against the Trump administration for delaying the EEOC’s equal pay data collection initiative earlier this year.

“It’s not enough to say men and women deserve equal pay for equal work. We need to fully enforce anti-discrimination laws, and this pay data would give us a critical tool to do so,” said Frankel, Chair of the Democratic Women’s Working Group. “The financial security of American families depends on it.”

“The Trump Administration’s immediate stay on collecting wage data from large companies via the EEO-1 form is an illegal attack on equal pay, plain and simple,” said DeLauro. “The updated EEO-1 form would have asked large companies to start reporting information on what they pay their employees by sex, race, and ethnicity so that the EEOC could identify pay discrimination and encourage companies to correct pay disparities. Pay discrimination in the workplace is real, and it affects not only women, but also children, families, and our economy as a whole. That is why I am proud to support the efforts of the National Women’s Law Center, LCLAA, and Democracy Forward, and am hopeful that this issue will be resolved so that women and families get the equal pay they deserve.”

In September, DeLauro and Frankel led a letter with over 100 Members of Congress to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in opposition to the Trump Administration’s refusal to collect pay data on the basis of gender, race and ethnicity. In April, DeLauro reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen and close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by holding employers accountable for discriminatory practices, ending the practice of pay secrecy, easing workers’ ability to individually or jointly challenge pay discrimination, and strengthening the available remedies for wronged employees. The House legislation has 198 cosponsors (every Democratic Member of the House and one Republican Member) and the Senate legislation has 45 cosponsors.

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