EEOC to Participate in Live Twitter Chat Equal Pay Day Tuesday

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will participate in a “Tweet Chat” on Tuesday, April 9 from 1-2 p.m. ET to discuss the pay gap between women and men. The Equal Pay Tweetchat, using the hashtag #talkpay, is sponsored by the National Women’s Law Center, with these distinguished guests:

·         U.S. EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien

·         Jocelyn Samuels, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice

·         U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (MD)

·         Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3)

During the chat, EEOC, along with other organizations, will answer questions on the issue of pay discrimination using its Twitter handle @EEOCNews.

The EEOC seeks to heighten awareness of gender-based wage discrimination on Equal Pay Day, which is held annually in April to signify the point in the year that a woman must work to earn what a man made the previous year. According to the most recent data, women earn only 77 percent of what men earn in a full-time annual salary.

The EEOC has been at the forefront of the federal government’s effort to secure equal pay for women. As part of the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force created by President Obama, the Commission has undertaken important efforts to raise awareness and strengthen enforcement of wage discrimination laws. The 50^th Anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, enforced by the EEOC, will be commemorated this June.

The EEOC is the federal government agency responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the workplace.  Further information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.