Comparable Worth: Is it a Moot Issue? Part II: The Legal and Juridical Posture

• Author: Mary Virginia Moore,Yohannan T. Abraham
• Published date: 01 June 1994
• Date: 01 June 1994
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/009102609402300208
• Subject Matter: Article

Comparable Worth:

Is It a

Moot Issue? Part II:

The

Legal and Juridical Posture

In

the first of a series of

articles

on

comparable

worth, the authors responded to the question

raised

in the first

part

of the title by exploring the topic of

comparable

worth from a historical

perspective.

It

presented

current

statistics

and

projected

trends

regarding

women in the labor

force.

In

Part

Π of this series, the authors discuss legislation and subsequent litigation

that

resulted

from laws governing sex discrimination and compensation. The final

article

in this

series addresses three

major

areas

of disagreement on the

comparable

worth issue including

explanations

for the gender earnings gap, the economic implications of

comparable

worth,

and

measuring job value.

By

The first

part

of this series, published in the Winter

1992, Vol.

22 No.4

Mary

Virginia

Moore issue of

Public Personnel Management,

dealt with the historical

underpin-

YohannanT.

Abraham

nmgg Qf comparable worth. In this article, three distinct categories

under

which compensation falls are defined, along with a

brief

discussion of the

impact of comparable worth in the public and private sectors. Although

the comparable worth issue is a global one, the scope of these discussions

is

limited to the facts and arguments pertaining to the U. S. labor force.

Discussions concerning organized labor and

collective

bargaining are lim-

ited in scope to the historical and legal aspects of comparable worth.

Legislation

One avenue available to those concerned with correcting employ-

ment compensation discrimination is through the legislative process, both

on a state and federal level.

State Laws

Mary

Virginia

Moore

received

her

MBA

from Southwest Missouri

State

University. She

currently

is

pursuing

a

J.D.

degree

at

Wash-

bum University. Ms. Moore

pre-

viously

was on the

faculty

at

Eastern

Illinois

University

and

Saint-Mary-of-the

Woods Col-

lege.

Her

scholarly works have

appeared

in

The

Journal

of

Business

Leadership

and

Public Personnel

Management.

Massachusetts was the first to enact protective legislation affecting

women. The

1867

statute limited the number of hours women and children

could work. Subsequently, many states followed suit regulating working

conditions and wages for women. Legal battles in the courts struck

down

much of this legislative activity as being unconstitutional. But in

1907,

the

Supreme Court in

Muller

v.

Oregon,

208U.S. 412 (1907),

upheld states' rights

to legislate in this area. There were no state laws prohibiting sex-based

wage discrimination

during

this era of protective laws in the early

1900s

(Aldrich &

Buchele,

1986;

Booker & Nuckolls,

1986).

Public Personnel Management Vol.

23

No.2 (Summer 1994) 263

In

1919,

Montana and Michigan

adopted

equal pay legislation. But

other states did not follow suit. For twenty-five years, these were the only

two states which enacted equal pay laws

(Booker

& Nuckolls,

1986).

Between

1943

and

1946,

equal pay act statutes were passed in

Illinois,

New

York,

Massachusetts, and Washington. These were very narrow in

scope.

Broader proposals began to be introduced in Congress beginning in

1945.

By

1963,

when the Equal Pay Act was passed, twenty-two states had

equal pay laws.

Although the roots of comparable

worth

began after

WWII,

the

modern movement started in Washington state in the

1970s.

Collective

bargaining helped give the movement momentum, particularly in the

public

sector.

Eight states have implemented comparable

worth

legislation

for

state employees. Ten states have been involved in comparable

worth

litigation,

and about

half

the states have laws relating to comparable

worth

in the public sector.

Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New

Mexico,

New

York,

and

Washington have already begun adjusting the salaries of female state

employees in accordance with the conclusions of comparable

worth

analy-

sis

of their pay structures.

Legislatively

mandated

studies

are

now underway as a

prelude

to such

action

in

California,

Connecticut,

Hawaii, Maine, New

Jersey,

Oregon,

and Wiscon-

sin. In Pennsylvania and

Texas,

state

employee unions comrnissioned these

studies themselves when

state

governments

were

reluctant

to do so... Statutes

in

Alaska,

Arkansas,

Georgia,

Idaho,

Kentucky,

Maine,

Maryland,

Massachu-

setts,

North Dakota,

Oklahoma,

Oregon, South

Dakota,

Tennessee, and

West

Virginia

prohibit

public and

private

employers alike

from

unequally

compen-

sating

male and female employees

perfoirrning

comparable

work or work of a

comparable

character

(Weiler,

1986:1754-1755).

Federal

Laws

Yohannan

T.

Abraham

(Ph.D.,

University

of

Oklahoma)

is

a

pro-

fessor

in

the

Department

of

Man-

agement

at Southwest

Missouri

State

University,

teaching

in the

areas

of

human

resource

manage-

ment

and

international

manage-

ment.

He

is

co-author

with

Edwin

B.

Flippo

of

Managing

α

Changing

Workforce,

a

textbook

in

human

re-

source

management,

published

by

Commerce

Clearing

House,

Inc.

Professor

Abraham

has

pub-

lished

in

Public

Personnel

Manage-

ment,

HR

Magazine,

Management

Decision,

Industrial

Management

and

Data

Systems,

and

Journal

of

Business

Leadership,

among

others.

Fewer

Federal laws have been passed on the equity pay issues.

Government agencies have been timid about getting involved in these

issues.

The

U.S.

Commission on Civil Rights has rejected intervening in

comparable

worth

cases.

In

June

of

1985,

the

EEOC

unanimously ruled

that

unequal pay for work of comparable value is not in and of

itself

discrimi-

natory

(U.S.

Office

of Personnel Management,

1987;

Willborn,

1986).

Traditional sex roles have been promoted by federal policies and

programs which have discouraged women from entering the labor

force.

For

example,

dual

income tax laws, the Aid to Families with Dependent

Children policy, and the lack of substantial allowances for child care, have

all

been premised on the idea

that

women should not work. Instead,

financial

aid is provided so

that

women will not work

(Booker

& Nuckolls,

1986).

264

Public Personnel

Management

Vol.

23

No.2 (Summer

1994)