The House-approved Paycheck Fairness Act, which would have held employers liable for unlimited punitive damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act, recently collapsed in the Senate.
Experts say that its passing could have been detrimental to small businesses, www.HRMorning.com reported. Business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opposed the bill for that reason. Many nursing homes are small businesses.
The Paycheck Fairness Act would have limited an employer’s flexibility in compensating employees based on differences in cost-of-living in geographic areas and prior salary histories. It also would have done away with a requirement that employees must relinquish written consent to become a party in an Equal Pay Act lawsuit. This, opponents of the bill argued, would give way to more class-action suits against employers.
