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WBA Testimonies & Letters

Wage Discrimination - The WBA supports the Paycheck Fairness Act, S. 3772, to promote economic opportunity for women and full enforcement of the antidiscrimination laws. The Paycheck Fairness Act would deter wage discrimination by closing loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and barring retaliation against workers who disclose their wages. The bill updates and strengthens the Equal Pay Act of 1963 to ensure that it will provide effective protection against sex-based pay discrimination. Toward that end, the measure allows women to receive the same remedies for sex-based pay discrimination that are currently available to those subject to needed training and technical assistance as well as data collection and research.


CLICK HERE FOR LETTER TO SENATOR SCOTT BROWN

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Alimony - The WBA supports S1616, An Act Relative to Flexibility in Alimony Orders, because it would allow the court to give short-term alimony, or alimony for a fixed period if appropriate.  Durational alimony would allow individuals time to receive education and training so that they can enter the workforce and help support themselves and their children.  Adding duration to the current law would allow the courts to continue to look at each case individually and also enable them to award more short-term alimony orders.  


CLICK HERE FOR TESTIMONY





Alimony - The WBA opposes H1785, An Act Relative to the Determination of Alimony Payments, because it eliminates the partnership model of marriage that has been in place in the Commonwealth for decades where the court looks to the contributions that each spouse has made to the family, including maintenance of a home and caring for children, as well as the accumulation of marital income and assets.  It would replace this flexible and equitable approach with a rigid formula that would dramatically curtail the duration of alimony to half the length of the marriage, 12 years, or retirement at age 65, whichever comes first.  In addition, after 5 years, alimony would be reduced by 10% per year.  

 


CLICK HERE FOR TESTIMONY




 

WBA Testimony in support of H1728 and S1687


 

Darien Fleming testified on behalf of the WBA at the July 14, 2009 Judiciary Committee Hearing in support of H1728 and S1687, Acts Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes, which would explicitly include transgender people by adding “gender identity or expression” as a protected characteristic to Massachusetts statutes governing hate crimes and discrimination in employment, housing, credit, public accommodations, and public education.


CLICK HERE FOR TESTIMONY

 




(The WBA's legislative policies do not necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors.)



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