The rhetoric surrounding Gov. Scott Walker’s decision to repeal the Equal Pay Law is inaccurate and misleading. What is actually an effort to reform tort law in Wisconsin is being framed as a “war on women” by Democratic gubernatorial candidates in order to gain the sympathies of the undecided voters during the recall election.
Passed in 2009, the Equal Pay Law was intended to deter employers from discriminating against women by giving them more avenues through which to press charges. Since then, the rate of pay for women in Wisconsin has gone up 3 percent. However, zero cases – that’s right, zero – have been filed in Wisconsin alleging employment discrimination under the law, demonstrating that the law had nothing to do with this modest increase.
More than two weeks ago, Walker repealed the Equal Pay Law, thereby eliminating compensatory and punitive damages for acts of employment discrimination. The bill was part of Republican lawmakers’ ongoing objective to tackle tort reform in the state by limiting excessive compensation and keeping frivolous lawsuits out of the over-saturated court system (for more discussion on tort reform, see here).
Since the repeal, Democratic gubernatorial candidates Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk have jumped on the opportunity to use Walker’s decision against him during their recall election campaigns. Both candidates have distorted the Republican legislators’ original intent of tort reform into rhetoric that suggests Walker is waging “a war on women” by intentionally denying women equal pay.
This is, simply put, a lie. The intent behind the legislation is in line with the national tort reform movement: to curb excessive compensation and over-saturation of our court system. The law has also never been used since its passage, showing that women are using one of the numerous other available avenues to bring about employment discrimination claims.
The supposed deterrent effect of the law is also a myth. The small increase in wages for women over the past three years did not magically occur because the Equal Pay Law was passed. Women have many legal opportunities to sue their employers over wage discrimination, including in federal court based on the United States and Wisconsin Constitution and in state court-based state law. It is these provisions that keep companies from discriminating against women, not the Equal Pay Law, which only provided the additional opportunity to receive punitive and compensatory damages.
Barrett and Falk – along with other Democratic legislators and liberal advocates – are misusing Walker’s decision for their own selfish reasons. Such strong though inaccurate rhetoric will gain the sympathies of undecided voters, who will hear the phrase “war on women” without understanding the underlying facts and reasons. This kind of deceptive speech has no place in a campaign, be it from a Democrat or a Republican.
The repeal of the Equal Pay Law does nothing to affect the right of women in Wisconsin, but instead eliminates a never-used statute in an effort to reform tort law in our state. Barrett and Falk’s propaganda surrounding the repeal are tasteless, showing just how far these candidates are willing to go to topple the Republican giant who is still currently ahead in the polls.
Alex Brousseau ([email protected]) is a second year law student.
