Bill on equal pay for men and women in Brazil moves forward

Brasilia, May 5 (RHC)-- The plenary of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved on Thursday the bill establishing equal pay for men and women performing the same functions.  The initiative presented by the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva received 325 votes in favor and 36 against.  It must now be voted on in the Senate before Lula can sign it into law.

The Brazilian president celebrated what he called "an important victory so that, once and for all, we have equal pay for equal work."  Through Twitter, Lula thanked "the deputies for their votes in favor of the bill presented by our Government on March 8th."

Deputy Jack Rocha, from the Workers' Party (PT), who presented the final bill, said that this "is one more step in the fight against inequalities in the workplace, which deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic."

The House of Representatives approved today the Bill that deals with Equal Pay and Salary between men and women.  The text was sent to the National Congress by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on March 8th, as part of the actions for the International Women's Day.

The text guarantees equal pay and remuneration between women and men performing the same function or work of equal value. It alters the Consolidation of Labor Laws of 1943 to provide that equal pay is mandatory.

In this regard, the bill provides for transparency and remuneration mechanisms to be followed by companies. It creates inspection tools to ensure compliance and provides for the application of administrative sanctions.

In the event that wage discrimination based on sex, race, ethnicity, origin or age is proven, in addition to paying the wage differences, the employer must pay an administrative fine equivalent to ten times the value of the new salary owed to the discriminated employee.

According to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) last year, the average salary of Brazilian women is 20.1% lower than that of men.  Official statistics indicate that women represent 51.1% of the Brazilian population.