The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would let workers sue on a claim they are underpaid because of discrimination that occurred years earlier. That measure was approved on a 247-171 vote.
The Paycheck Fairness Act, passed 256-163, would lift a cap on damages in pay-discrimination suits and restrict the range of defenses that can be raised by employers. It also would bar employers from penalizing workers who share salary information to detect pay discrepancies.
Bloomberg, via Google News
The substantial margins these passed by is evidence of what we have accomplished in this last election: More Democrats. Moreover, these Democrats are acting like, well, Democrats, workers being, presumably, a core constituency to the Party and its Principles.
I am not a Labor wonk, so I'm not the one to analyze the implications of these votes. They do speak to wage fairness and workers rights, so I am very encouraged to hear of this. It would presumably bode well for the passage of the EFCA, which should be coming up pretty quickly.
I have no idea what fate awaits these bills in the Senate, and I hope someone more knowledgeable will speak up, or is writing a more comprehensive Diary right now.
Mostly, I was surprised to find this out at Google News, rather than at DailyKos, which is where I seem to get most of my national and world news from these days. I don't even have a TV.