Indiana lawmakers call for equal-pay law

A group of bipartisan Indiana lawmakers are calling for an equal-pay law to alleviate one of the biggest wage gaps in the country.

At a news conference Wednesday morning, Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, and Sen. Jean Breaux, D-Indianapolis. unveiled the details of two measures that would charge employers with discrimination for failing to equitably pay female and minority workers. The bills also would give the Indiana Civil Rights Commission expanded authority to investigate and resolve wage complaints.

Lawson's proposal includes language that punishes employers that prevent workers from sharing wage information. 

Breux's bill is co-authored by Republican Sen. Vaneta Becker. 

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House Bill 1390, authored by Lawson, and Senate Bill 93, authored by Breaux, come during a national onslaught of sexual harassment and sex discrimination cases spurred by the #metoo movement. 

They also are introduced after Indiana was noted as having the sixth worst pay gap in the nation, according to an Indiana Institute for Working Families study released in December. The study found women in Indiana earn less, own less and experience poverty more often than men.

A Hoosier woman makes 74 cents for every dollar earned by a Hoosier man, the study said. For minority women, the gap is even larger: 36 percent for African-American and biracial women, and 44 percent for Latinas.

In 2016, the median earnings of men working full time in Indiana were $12,717 higher than the median earnings of women working full time — a 26 percent wage gap, according to the study. 

Last month IndyStar detailed how Indiana law enables sexual harassment in the workplace. 

Officials with the Equality Pay Coalition of Indiana, the American Association of University Women Indiana, the Indiana Federation of Business and Professional Women, the Indiana League of Women Voters, the Indianapolis National Organization for Women, and Women4Change Indiana also were expected to be in attendance at Wednesday's news conference.

This story will be updated.

IndyStar reporter Emma Kate Fittes contributed to this report. 

Call IndyStar reporter Fatima Hussein at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter:@fatimathefatima.

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