Skip to main content

Arizona Republicans Block Vote on Equal Pay Amendment


As some readers might have heard, this past Tuesday was Equal Pay Day across the country.  To commemorate this day, Democrats in Arizona attempted to have a vote in the state legislature on the Equal Pay Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  (The Equal Pay Amendment broadly guarantees equal rights to men and women).  As a bit of background, the Equal Pay Amendment was introduced in the U.S. Congress back in the ‘70’s but failed to acquire the minimum 38 states needed to formally make it an amendment to the Constituion.  (That effort back in ‘72 only fell three states short).  As a result, the duty fell on the legislatures of each state to ratify the amendment.  As of this writing, 14 states have yet to ratify the Equal Pay Amendment.

Turning back to Arizona, for the second straight year, Democrats sought to have a vote on the matter.  However, Republicans (who have majority control) voted along party lines, 32 - 25, to recess for the day and subsequently avoid a vote.  This procedural tactic came after both Democrats and Republicans spoke about the proposed amendment, with Democrats in particular giving an impassioned plea that it was time for Arizona to make history and approve the Equal Pay Amendment.

For the time being, Republicans in the state have avoided another vote on the Equal Pay Amendment.  With that being said, with equal pay continuing to be a major talking point in recent years and Nevada becoming the 36th state to ratify the amendment last year, this could be a matter of when (not if) Arizona will follow suit and also ratify the amendment.


For additional information:  https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/505858002

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum,...
Post a Comment
Read more

NLRB: Former Employee Cannot Be Barred From Work Premises After Filing Wage Suit

MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC - NLRB Facts :  MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC d/b/a Grand Sierra Resort & Casino ("GSR") operated a facility that included a hotel, casino, restaurant, clubs, bars, and a pool which were all open to the general public.  Tiffany Sargent ("Sargent") was briefly employed by GSR as a "beverage supervisor" in December of 2012.  After her employment ended, Sargent continued to socialize at one of the clubs.  GSR had a long standing practice of allowing former employees to patronize its facility and did not prohibit Sargent from doing so.  In June of 2013, Sargent and another employee filed a class and collective action against GSR for alleged unpaid wages, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Nevada law.  In July of 2014, GSR denied Sargent access to an event at one of the clubs.  GSR followed up with a letter and stated that with the on-going litigation (from the wage suit), it decided to bar Sargent from the premises. ...
1 comment
Read more

San Diego Rolls Back Vaccine Mandate For City Workers

Last Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted to do away with the vaccine mandate for city employees. The city’s vaccine mandate that was in place required city workers to get the coronavirus vaccine or risk termination.  Perhaps to this surprise of no one, the city’s policy came under fire with 14 employees being terminated and over 100 other employees resigning.  With the coronavirus subsiding, including in Southern California, the San Diego City Council took action. Now, bear in mind, the repeal of the vaccine mandate does not take place immediately. With that being said, the mandate will be repealed March 8th.  I suppose the question now is, what other cities or regions follow San Diego’s lead? For additional information:   https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-01-24/san-diego-repeals-controversial-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-citing-drop-in-cases-hospitalizations
Post a Comment
Read more