CO: Senator Udall Fails on Pay Equity

CO: Senator Udall Fails on Pay Equity

CO: Senator Udall Fails on Pay Equity

Udall Pays Women Staffers Less, Gardner Pays More

July 21, 2014

by Joshua Sharf

 

Despite heavy reliance on the “War on Women” theme during his tough re-election campaign, including pay equity, Democratic Senator Mark Udall pays his full-time women staffers considerably less than the men who work for him, an analysis by Watchdog Wire shows.   This stands in stark contrast to his challenger, Republican Representative Cory Gardner.

Data from the site Legistorm, shows that, on average, Sen. Udall pays his women staffers 86 cents for every dollar earned by the men.  The analysis covered Federal Fiscal Year 2013 (October 2012 – September 2013), and included only full-time staffers who had been on staff the entire fiscal year.  The 17 women earned an average of just over $58,000 for FY13, while the 14 men earned $67,300.
House staffs are much smaller.  Consequently, Rep. Gardner employed only six women and four men for the duration of the fiscal year.  However, Gardner’s office paid the women an average of $55,000, with the men earning just over $46,000.
The difference is almost completely accounted for by the senior staff positions.  Udall hired men to serve in the higher-paid Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff positions, while Gardner’s Chief of Staff was a woman.
A similar analysis by the Washington Free Beacon shows that the pay disparity in Udall’s office is common in the Senate, among those who trumpet their support for so-called pay equity laws.  In fact, gender pay discrimination has been against the law for decades.