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A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 31 March 2022
Mississippi could become final state with equal pay law

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS work the same job and not
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mis- receive the same rate of
sissippi could become the pay," Turner Ford said.
final state to enact a law Separate federal laws ban
requiring equal pay for pay discrimination based
equal work by women and on race or disability. Al-
men, after the state House though people can already
and Senate passed the fi- file federal lawsuits seeking
nal version of a bill Wednes- challenging unequal pay
day. based on sex, Mississippi At-
The bill goes to Republican torney General Lynn Fitch
Gov. Tate Reeves, and he said filing a lawsuit in state
has not said whether he will court could be less expen-
sign it. When he was lieu- sive.
tenant governor, Reeves A 2017 report by the Mis-
let a similar bill die. sissippi University Research
A 1963 federal law requires Center showed women
equal pay for equal work, earned 27% less than men
but Mississippi is the only for fulltime work in Missis-
state without its own equal sippi, compared to a 19%
pay law. Alabama enact- wage gap nationwide. The
ed one in 2019. Sen. Angela Turner Ford, D-West Point, left, listens to Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, discuss legisla- study said some of the gap
The Mississippi bill says a tion, in the Senate Chamber, Monday, March 28, 2022, at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson. could be explained by the
worker must file a lawsuit Associated Press types of jobs women and
within two years of when men were working, but the
the worker "knew or should She said the bill also allows tions." ing the state of Mississippi.' unexplained wage gap re-
have known" about pay lower pay if a worker has Several exceptions are al- We want you to work here, mained about 18% in Mis-
discrepancies. taken months or years off lowed, including seniority, and we want your rights to sissippi and about 15% na-
If the lawsuit is successful, to care for children or older merit, quantity or quality of be protected,'" Boyd said. tionwide.
the worker could receive parents. production and "any factor Democratic Sen. Angela Fitch, a Republican, has
court costs, attorneys' fees "During this pandemic, other than sex," including Turner Ford of West Point pushed for an equal pay
and the amount she — or women have been forced salary history and whether voted "present," which law for years. In a state-
he — should have received to leave the workforce for there was competition to counted neither for nor ment Wednesday, she
to cover the wage gap. No caregiving responsibilities," hire an employee. against the bill. She said called it "basic fairness."
additional financial dam- Welchlin said Wednesday. Republican Sens. Brice Wig- said after the vote that em- If Reeves signs the bill into
ages would be allowed. "It's just an equal pay bill in gins of Pascagoula and Ni- ployers could save money law, Fitch said: "We will
Cassandra Welchlin, lead- name only." cole Boyd of Oxford were by paying unequal wages take a giant leap forward
er of the Mississippi Black House Bill 770 says busi- among the six lawmakers because lawsuits could be in closing the 27% pay gap
Women's Roundtable, ad- nesses with at least five who negotiated the final difficult to win. Turner Ford — a pay gap that makes
vocates for equal pay but employees must pay equal version of the bill. Wiggins also said the bill does not it harder for working wom-
said the bill is "harmful" be- wages to women and men described it as "business ban unequal pay based on en and their families, that
cause it would allow an who work fulltime jobs that friendly." Boyd said the bill race. leads to young Mississippi
employer to pay a woman require "equal skill, educa- is "a good step in the right "White men, Black men, women taking their talents
less than a man based on tion, effort and responsibil- direction." white women, Black wom- beyond our borders and
the pay history that work- ity" and that are done "un- "It says to young women, en — there's no reason for that perpetuates the cycle
ers bring into new jobs. der similar working condi- 'We care about you stay- each of these individuals to of poverty in our state."q

Police: 12-year-old killed by younger brother who found gun

12-year-old brother as the On Friday, two young cous- want to ensure these guns
two played with a gun ins who were livestreaming are secured safely."
they found inside a St. Louis from a St. Louis apartment According to a leading gun
home, police said. died when one child fatally control advocacy group,
The shooting happened shot the other before killing Everytown for Gun Safe-
Tuesday night in a north herself in what family mem- ty, in 2020, unintentional
St. Louis neighborhood, bers have said was an ac- shootings by children under
KMOV-TV reported. Police cident. 18 years old in the United
said the boys were with a In February, a 12-year-old States left 142 people dead
parent who was getting a girl was wounded in an ac- and 242 wounded.
haircut in the home when cidental self-inflicted shoot- In 2021, the number of
the older boy was shot in ing. deaths climbed to 154 and
the face. St. Louis Metropolitan Police the number wounded rose
Police said a woman was Maj. Ryan Cousins urged slightly to 244. According
arrested Wednesday on residents to use gun locks. to the group's data and
a possible charge of en- "As an agency, we will St. Louis' most recent gun
Family members of a deceased 12-year-old boy grieve at the dangering the welfare of come out and teach ev- deaths involving children,
scene where police say the child was shot and killed while play-
ing with a gun that he and a 10-year-old found inside a home in a child, the St. Louis Post- eryone how to use them," at least 20 people have
St. Louis on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. Dispatch reported. Cousins said. "We do un- been killed and more than
Associated Press The death follows a spate of derstand people are going 30 have been wounded in
shootings in St. Louis involv- to own guns; however, to such shootings so far this
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A 10-year- old boy fatally shot his ing children handling guns. protect these children, we year.q