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Mark Kirk Votes Against Equal Pay for Women

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Mark Kirk Votes Against Equal Pay for Women In This Issue: Convention Photos . .4 Tenth Dems Interns Enjoy a Busy Summer Interns . .1 More Photos . .5 Kirk & Equal Pay . .1 Pro-Israel Politics . .6 by Daniel Goldberg Kirk Push Polls . 2 Kirk & Issa . .6 Issues Favor Seals . 3 Big Oil . .7 2008 really has been an election 25 Reasons/Seals . .3 Rupublican #s . .7 year for young voters. Perhaps this can be attributed to a For information or to volunteer call: certain charismatic and 847.266.VOTE (8683) progressive presidential Or write to: candidate, or maybe it is the Hon. Lauren Beth Gash, Chair, Tenth Dems P.O. Box 523, Deerfield, IL 60015 result of a myriad of concerns Visit the website: www.tenthdems.org — from global warming to a Newsletter: [email protected] spiraling national debt — that Editor: Barbara Altman are sure to impact the future of Editorial Staff: Joan Attenberg, Lou Barnett, young voters. Whatever the Colleen Berk, Hon. Lauren Beth Gash, Ellen Beth reason, we have seen the effect Mohammed Mortoja, Gregg Garmisa, Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins, Emily Gill, Daniel Goldberg, Carol Hillsberg, John here at Tenth Dems. Garmisa, David Bonner, Sen. Dick Durbin, Steve Ondra, and Marcia Hmurovic, Adrienne Kirshbaum, Leslie Lipschultz, Ross Nickow, Nancy Pred, George The eleven interns who worked Fields pose with Tenth Dems interns Barrett Monie, Lexi Zarecky, Jordan Rosenblit, Sharon Sanders, Steve Sheffey, Laurie for the Tenth Dems this summer Silver, Vlad Voskoboynikov, and Skippy Mesirow at the Illinois State Kaplan Singh th were selected from more than Democratic Convention on August 13, 2008, in Springfield. Design: Terry Jones 60 applicants — an enormous and unprecedented number for our organization. We range in age Distribution: Glenn Stier, Dave Du Bordieu, from graduate students to high schoolers. We have been working in the office, with local candidates, Cosette Winter 10 at fundraising events, and anywhere else that offers free food. The opinions expressed are those of the writers, continued on page 8 and not necessarily endorsed by Tenth Dems www.tenthdems.org SEPTEMBERTenth 2008 Illinois Tenth Congressional DistrictNews Democrats Newsletter Volume 5, Edition 9 Kirk Unmasked: punitive damages. It also prohibits employer Mark Kirk Votes Against retaliation against employees who investigate wage practices, strengthens Equal Pay for Women penalties for Equal Pay Act This is the sixteenth in an ongoing series. violations, and creates a grant program to help women strengthen On July 31, the House of Representatives voted on the Paycheck their negotiation skills. Fairness Act (PCFA), a bill designed to ensure equal pay for women. The bill passed the House in a nearly straight party-line vote. All House In a recent letter defending his NO vote that he emailed to Democrats and 14 Republicans voted for it. constituents, Kirk criticized the PCFA, saying it undermines a woman’s control of legal actions against her employer by automatically making “Most of the Republicans who supported the bill are cowards running her part of a class action law suit and requiring her to proactively opt- from their voting records,” journalist Howie Klein said in the Huffington out to maintain the right to sue independently. Post. “Petrified Bush rubber stamp reactionaries…crossed the aisle today…to lie to women and tell them they support [pay] equality. [But] But Kirk’s letter failed to disclose the significance of the PCFA: The most Republicans up for re-election in November didn’t have the Act makes possible for the first time class action lawsuits for gender sense to dodge this one.” pay differences. It puts gender-based wage discrimination on an equal footing with wage discrimination based on race or ethnicity—for Mark Kirk was among this latter group. Exposing his true priorities — which full compensatory and punitive damages currently are i.e., the corporate interests represented by the Bush White House— available. It also makes it illegal for employers to retaliate against Kirk voted in lockstep with the vast majority of House Republicans women who share salary information with co-workers, thus ending against this important bill. pay secrecy — “an enabler of of wage discrimination,” as 10th District “Over the course of her lifetime, a female high school graduate will blogger Ellen Beth Gill noted on August 14 (http://ellenofthetenth. make $700,000 less than the young man she graduates with,” blogspot.com/2008/08/important-debunk-of-mark-kirk-lies.html). Connecticut Congresswoman Rose DeLauro, the bill’s sponsor, said (Excerpts from this blog are published as a companion to this article.) before the House of Representatives. “A female college student His vote against the PCFA is the second time in a year that Mark Kirk stands to lose up to $2 million in the course of her career.” opposed women’s right to equal pay. Exactly one year ago, he voted The PCFA toughens the remedy provisions of the 1963 Equal Pay Act against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007, a bill that clarifies the by allowing aggrieved women who sue to recover compensatory and continued on page 2 Mark Kirk Uses Misinformation and a Push Poll to Defend His Vote Against Equal Pay for Women –Excerpted and adapted from Ellen’s Illinois Tenth Congressional poor plaintiffs 33 cents but required them to file for their award District Blog dated August 14, 2008, “Baby May Have Back, but Mark using a stamp costing 34 cents. Of course, trial lawyers made Kirk's Sorry Email Push Poll is Thin on Facts,” by Ellen Beth Gill millions just the same. Background: Mark Kirk sent out an email to 10th District voters Here’s the push poll question: misrepresenting the Paycheck Fairness Act in order to defend his Should Congress force a woman to proactively opt-out of class vote against it. He made it sound like the bill prevents women from action lawsuits or lose her right to sue for wage discrimination? making a case against a discriminating employer when it actually opens up their ability to file and Kirk’s question oversimplifies and generally misleads constituents maintain a lawsuit and increases the about the Paycheck Fairness Act (PCFA) potential for an award. In that email, and class action lawsuits. he asked a single question that Here are the facts: Corporate wage entirely misrepresents the effect of secrecy is one of the prime enablers of the bill. He is likely to use the results wage discrimination. Not so long ago, the of that push poll in a future campaign Supreme Court concluded that a woman advertisement to show the district’s named Lilly Ledbetter lost her ability to agreement with his vote. sue for wage discrimination because she This is what Kirk said in the email: was unable to discover that she was paid significantly less than her male co- While Americans already have the workers until the 180-day statutory time right to bring an equal pay limit for filing a lawsuit had expired (see discrimination lawsuit, Congress Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber considered making radical changes (H.R. 1338) that would transfer Company, Docket No. 05-1074). The PCFA is designed to avoid that control of your case to others. In short, the proposed bill would: unjust outcome by making it illegal for employers to retaliate against $ Automatically make you a member of a class-action lawsuit workers inquiring about their employers' wage practices or whether you were discriminated against or not and even if you disclosing their own wages to co-workers. An employer defending a were unaware of the lawsuit. The new law would force a woman lawsuit must show that wage gaps truly are attributable to factors to proactively opt-out of the class action lawsuit or forfeit her other than sex discrimination. In addition, the U.S. Department of right to sue independently. If you did not opt-out in time, you could Labor is required to resume its prior practice of collecting and lose your right to bring your own lawsuit in the future. publishing wage-related data. $ Remove the current $300,000 cap on punitive damages for Kirk would have constituents believe that the PCFA is a wage intentional discrimination suits, opening up a new round of discrimination rather than wage equity bill, claiming that it requires unlimited non-economic damage lawsuits; and allow huge women to give up control of their legal actions against employers. punitive damages to be charged against an employer even if the This is nonsense. The class opt-out provisions of the PCFA that Kirk court found only unintentional discrimination. Employers will be decries actually help women. Federal court rules were changed forced to increase the prices of their goods by reducing wages more than 40 years ago to adopt the opt-out method for all federal or eliminating jobs. class actions, and most states have adopted the federal rule. The $ Allow Congress to take away your right to govern your own idea of a class action suit is to remove the requirement of joining lawsuit - class-action lawsuits would be controlled by trial every single possible plaintiff individually. A New York court recently lawyers that routinely take over 30% of all court awards for noted that opt-out was especially appropriate in an employee class themselves. We have seen other class action suits yield action because "workers might be reluctant to affirmatively opt-in to questionable results, including an infamous case that awarded the case for fear of reprisal and retaliation." (see Guzman v. VLM, Inc. d/b/a Reliable Bakery, Case No. 07-CV-1126). Kirk Unmasked continued from page 1 A 2004 analysis of Kirk’s voting record on women’s issues found that he votes pro-choice only on high profile pieces of legislation, and Civil Rights Act of 1964 to declare that a new unlawful employment only just enough to maintain his Planned Parenthood approval rating.
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