[F]emales have been significantly under-represented in occupational fatalities, by a ratio of about one female death on the job per 12 male deaths in most years.  Men are disproportionately represented in higher-paying, but higher-risk occupations like mining, fishing, farming and construction.

By Mark J. Perry at Carpe Diem

“Today, the President continues to advocate for passage of the Paycheck Workweek and Occupational Fatality Fairness Act, a comprehensive bill that strengthens the Equal Pay Workweek and Occupational Death Act of 1963, which made it illegal for employers to pay wages to men and women to work an unequal number of hours per week, or suffer from differences in occupational deaths who perform substantially equal work.   The Paycheck Workweek and Occupational Fatality Fairness Act is commonsense legislation that, among other things, would achieve the following:

• Better align key Equal Pay Workweek and Occupational Death Act defenses with those in Title VII.
• Bring remedies available under the Equal Pay Workweek and Occupational Death Act into line with remedies available under other civil rights laws.
• Make the requirements for class action lawsuits under the Equal Pay Workweek and Occupational Death Act match those of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
• Protect employees who share their own salary workweek or occupational injury or fatality information at work from retaliation by an employer.

From the beginning of his administration, President Obama has worked to ensure that women are paid fairly for their work work exactly the same number of hours per week as men and are exposed to the same work-related fatalities as men. The President is committed to securing an equal pay for equal work workweek and equal occupation death rate for men and women because it’s essential that we build an economy where everyone gets a fair shot at working an equal number of hours regardless of gender and gets an equal chance of getting seriously injured or killed on the job.  American families and the health of our nation’s economy depend on it.”

Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In addition to a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan-Flint, Perry is also a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.