Dear John,

Despite Ivanka Trump’s claims to the contrary, the Trump administration must REALLY hate equal pay.

Back in 2017, the administration violated the law by abruptly abandoning the EEO-1 pay data collection initiative begun under President Obama. The pay data collection requires employers to identify their own gender and racial wage gaps and helps uncover pay discrimination. After we sued the administration and won, a judge ordered the Trump administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to finally collect pay data from employers on the basis of gender, race and ethnicity. The deadline to submit that data is today — September 30.

But before that deadline — and before companies had even finished submitting their information — the EEOC announced that it won’t continue the pay data collection next time around, because it’s too burdensome for employers.

You know what’s a real burden? A lifetime wage gap loss totaling a million dollars or more.

In 2017, the Trump administration broke the law when it blocked the EEO-1 pay data collection before it ever started. When we sued, the court ruled for us and ordered the EEOC to start collecting pay data from employers ASAP. The administration is trying to make its refusal to examine employers’ wage gaps stick this time. But the agency is required to collect public comments on this proposal. That’s where we come in. Send a message to the EEOC telling the administration why equal pay data is so important in the fight to close the wage gap.

We can’t end pay discrimination and close wage gaps if employers can hide the fact they are paying women and people of color unfairly. Right now, the EEOC is listening to employers and not the working people it should be fighting for. Let’s make sure they hear from us too. Submit your comment to the EEOC today.

Sincerely,

Emily Martin
Vice President for Workplace Justice & Education
National Women's Law Center