Class action lawsuits

Paycheck Fairness Act of 2008

hmoroz — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:07:29 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Median income of a white man working a fulltime job for 50 weeks or more in 2006: $48,420

Median income of a black woman working a fulltime job for 50 weeks or more in 2006: $30,352

Median income of a Hispanic woman working a fulltime job for 50 weeks or more in 2006: $25,198

Percentage of pay gap between men and women college graduates that remains unaccounted for after all other factors are taken into account besides discrimination one year after college graduation: 5

Percentage of pay gap between men and women college graduates that remains unaccounted for after all other factors are taken into account besides discrimination ten years after graduation: 12

Percentage of median weekly wages of male physicians earned by women physicians in 2006: 72%

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. Despite improvement in compensation disparity between men and women since the passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963, the wage gap still persists. Women make approximately 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. In 2006, the median income of men was $42,261 while that of women was only $32,515. The disparity is even greater for minority women. A recent report by the American Association of University Women found that discrimination is a significant factor contributing to the pay gap between men and women. Further, American households increasingly rely on a woman’s paycheck to make ends meet: the median contribution of a woman to her household was 35.1% of the total in 2005. Legislation to end discriminatory pay practices is necessary to ensure that aspiring middle-class and middle-class Americans do not lose wages that are necessary to afford the health insurance, college education, and everyday necessities that compose a middle-class standard of living. The Paycheck Fairness Act will allow employees to seek redress from wage discrimination more easily, while protecting them from employer retaliation. Allowing employees to seek compensatory and punitive damages provides both the best means to compensate employees who have been discriminated against and a powerful incentive for employers not to discriminate based on gender in the first place.

Finally, collecting more information from employers about wage rates will allow citizen groups, non-profit organizations, and public agencies refine statistics on the pay gap and develop more effective policies to eliminate it.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Sex-Based Discrimination, from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

"Women in the Labor Force: A Databook," from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Behind the Pay Gap, from the American Association of University Women

Civil Rights Act of 2008

hmoroz — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:04:56 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Class Action Fairness Act of 2005

jon — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:25:55 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Opposes

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Minimum ratio of federal judges in district courts to state judges in general jurisdiction courts as of 2003: 1:13
Number of cases pending in U.S. District Courts for three years or longer as of September 2003: 34,067
Minimum number of consumer groups signing on to a letter of opposition to S. 5: 68
Number of lobbyists retained by corporate interests to ensure a class action bill favorable to their interests, according to Public Citizen: 475
Number of such lobbyists from the insurance industry alone: 193
Likelihood that a class action case against a life insurance company will be certified and allowed to go forward in state court vs. in federal court: 2:1

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Opposes. While moving lawsuits from state to federal courts may seem harmless enough, in effect it will prevent many middle-class Americans injured by defective products, manipulated by deceptive marketing, or discriminated against by unfair employment practices from ever being able to hold corporate wrongdoers accountable. As a result, the threat of lawsuits will be less of a deterrent to corporations that engage in deceptive or discriminatory practices or seek to cut corners by skimping on product safety. Moving state cases to the federal courts is particularly harmful because it is state judges, not the federal judiciary, that are most familiar with the state consumer protection laws under which wrongdoers are sued. As a result, federal judges usually won’t certify cases based on state law, which effectively prevents even the most legitimate cases from ever being heard if they are forced into federal court. That means ordinary citizens have lost an important means of getting recourse to the laws their democratically-elected state legislators passed. To make matters worse, the federal courts are increasingly stacked with judges hostile to consumer and workers’ rights. What’s more, the federal courts are already overburdened, struggling to cope in a timely manner with the caseload already before them. Further clogging the federal system with state cases may slow down everyone’s access to justice. Finally, the “rights” guaranteed to plaintiffs by this Act, such as greater scrutiny for cases in which settlement terms cause plaintiffs to suffer a net loss, don’t actually provide as much new protection as it appears because they primarily duplicate already-existing provisions of the rules of civil procedure. Although provisions reining in low-value coupon settlements are positive, they don't warrant the bill's other very harmful provisions.

Class action lawsuits

Paycheck Fairness Act of 2008

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Civil Rights Act of 2008

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Class Action Fairness Act of 2005

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources