NAACP Legal Defense Fund Statement on Trump Administration Halting Equal Pay Data Collection

Shared on behalf of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

On August ate yesterday, the Trump Administration put an indefinite hold on equal pay data collection, which was an Obama-era initiative – set to begin in 2018 – mandating large businesses report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) information about how much they pay their employees by gender, race, and ethnicity. This data would help companies find and remedy wage discrimination within their midst, and would also better equip the EEOC to combat pay discrimination. Todd A. Cox, Director of Policy at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), issued the following statement:

“The Trump Administration is acting again to attack core civil rights protections. Significant pay gaps still exist in this country with, for example, African-American women typically getting paid only 63 cents for every dollar paid to white men. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 allows the EEOC to collect certain employment data, which has proven central to its ability to identify and root out employment discrimination based on race, gender, and national origin. By halting the collection of pay information, this Administration will seriously cripple the EEOC’s ability to address wage discrimination and will further weaken the economic security of communities of color. In the wake of the tragedy in Charlottesville, it is further evidence of this administration’s open hostility to civil rights and racial justice.

“We call on Congressional leaders to exercise their oversight and budgetary authority to ensure that the EEOC and other federal agencies fulfill their responsibilities to pursue robust enforcement of the nation’s employment discrimination laws, particularly those outlawing pay discrimination.”