Brunner calls on Fisher to address salary inequity of his woman successor…
This in via e-mail from the Brunner for Senate campaign:
US Senate Candidate Jennifer Brunner Calls on Lee Fisher to Abide by Pay Equity Laws and Raise the Salary of his Woman Successor
COLUMBUS-U.S. Senate candidate Jennifer Brunner today called on her opponent, Lee Fisher, to do more than talk about getting support from women voters. “Fisher should fight for equal pay for women, starting with the woman who has taken his place as director of the Ohio Department of Development,” Brunner said.
Earlier this year, Fisher left his post as director of the development department at a salary of $142,500 so he could campaign for the Senate. The Department of Development is responsible for the creation, retention and expansion of jobs in Ohio.
When Fisher resigned, Mark Barbash was made interim director at an annual salary of $128,356. After tax and home foreclosure problems plagued Barbash, he was replaced by a second interim director, Lisa Patt-McDaniel, at a salary of $88,379. Her salary remains unchanged even though Barbash returned to the department June 29 to a position subordinate to Patt-McDaniel at a salary that exceeds hers.
On Tuesday, Brunner published a campaign website blog entry entitled, “Who I Am.” In what was dubbed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as her “Jerry Maguire” memo, she stated, “Women voters will be energized by this election across our state, because many of their hopes and dreams were piqued by the candidacy of Hillary Clinton and fueled by the election of our first African-American president, Barack Obama.”
Brunner challenged Fisher to give more than lip service to pay equity for women and to use his continuing influence with the department to honor President Obama’s first act signed into law, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. Since leaving the department, Lee Fisher continues to assume visible responsibility for the agency’s public activities, allows his picture to be featured prominently on the department’s website, and carries out the public duties of an agency director, despite having ceded the position to Patt-McDaniel.
At a recent dinner of the state’s Democratic Party faithful, Fisher borrowed one of Senator Sherrod Brown’s oft-repeated speech quotes, admonishing attendees, “Don’t tell me what you believe. Tell me what you’ve done, and I’ll tell you what you believe.”
“While Lee Fisher continues to take for credit for the activities of the state department responsible for adding jobs to our economy, he silently acquiesces to the obvious pay inequity for the woman who handles the day-to-day responsibilities that he and Mark Barbash once performed,’’ said Brunner.
“Women across the country still earn just 78 cents for every dollar men earn, and for women of color, it is even less. Instead of zigzagging across the state to capture the limelight for Development Department achievements, Lee Fisher should be pushing for the woman who holds his old job to get a pay raise—she’s doing the work he used
to do, and he’s showing up to take the credit,’’ stated Brunner. “I challenge Lee Fisher to fight for the basic principle that we are all created equal,” said Brunner.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act is named for an Alabama woman who, at the end of a 19-year career as a supervisor in a tire factory, learned she had been paid less than men who did comparable jobs. A jury found her employer, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company plant in Gadsden, Ala., guilty of pay discrimination. But the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the case, ruling that she should have filed her suit within 180 days of the date that Goodyear first paid her less than her peers, even though she did not discover it until years later.
Congress responded by approving legislation that expands workers’ rights to sue in this kind of case by relaxing the statute of limitations. The Lily Ledbetter Act was President Obama’s first bill signed as our nation’s new President.
Brunner is currently serving as Ohio’s Secretary of State. She is seeking the U.S. Senate seat now held by George Voinovich, who is retiring. Brunner would be the first woman from Ohio to serve in the Senate.
It is amazing to me that in 2009 women still are treated this way.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:24 amFor the record, Modernesquire has thoroughly debunked this “Story” at http://tinyurl.com/nh36oo.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:13 pmThoroughly debunked isn’t how I’d describe Modern’s post, it’s true Patt-McDaniel earns less, and while Fisher may not have any control over the issue, it’s clear there is a problem with pay equity though it could logically be said that the way to not pay someone $142,000 a year is to keep them as an interim…
July 10th, 2009 at 7:03 pmThey were in different positions.
Here is the rule: A permanent employee appointed to a higher position on an interim basis continues to be compensated at their permanent rate, not the higher rate.
Here is an example of the rule: Employee A is deputy director of sprocket making. Employee A is paid $5 a year. The Director of Sprocket Making is paid $7 a year. The Director of Sprocket Making quits, and Employee A is appointed to be Interim Director of Sprocket Making. Employee A continues to make $5 a year because they are still technically the Deputy Director of Sprocket making, and will revert to that position if/when a new Director is hired.
Here is the rule applied to the current situation: Barbash made $128K or so a year as chief economic developer. When Lee stepped down as Director, Barbash was appointed to be interim director and continued to make $128K, instead of being paid the higher salary that Lee got. When Barbash stepped down and returned to his position as chief economic developer, he continued to be paid the $128K, because that is his permanent salary.
Patti-McDaniel is a deputy director. Deputy Director are paid approximately $90K a year. When Patti-McDaniel was appointed as interim director, she continued to make the $90K because that is her permanent salary.
There is no discrimination, and to complain that people who are doing different jobs are being paid different salaries is an incredibly odd argument to make. “How dare they not pay the mail clerk as much as they pay the CEO?” “How dare they not pay the college intern as much as the governor? It must be because of discrimination.”
If you want to make an argument that one class of employees are overpaid (CDOs) or underpaid (Dep. Directors), that’s one thing. It’s an entirely different thing to claim that it’s because of gender discrimination when it is a gender neutral policy.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:57 pmI’m not trying to argue the validity of the press release, merely pointing out that I didn’t think Modern’s post could be described as “debunking” since there is some truth to what was written as to the larger issue of women and pay inequity and in reading the comments there, some were arguing that the press release had merit.
Debunking would mean it was totally false, like what Snopes does when they prove that the pictures being sent out being claimed were from the last plane that crashed were really from the television show Lost…
It’s semantics, but had you as an example written, “Modern sheds some light on the reasons why there is a pay inequity” I would have responded differently. Which realistically speaking as Modern pointed out, the Columbus Dispatch article as I understood it does state Patt-McDaniel was earning the salary that she earned in her last position.
I do things differently here, I post quite a few releases so I don’t have time to investigate the pro’s and con’s of each, sometimes it’s through discussion and through sharing material like you just did ratdg that people learn “the rest of the story” since we both know, these releases no matter who puts them out are designed to only share one view.
July 10th, 2009 at 9:22 pm