The Iowa House gave final legislative approval this week to a bill that makes it illegal for businesses with four or more employees to discriminate in pay based on gender, race, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation, and increases penalties. Senate File 137 was approved on a 90-7 vote.

"This bill is about pay equity," said Representative Vicki Lensing (D-Iowa City), the bill's floor manager. "We know we live in a state where women make 78 cents for every dollar that men make. Iowa as a state ranks 37th among all states for gender wage equity. So our work is not finished."

President Barack Obama in January signed the Ledbetter Equal Pay Act, which addresses the issue on the federal level, but the federal law only applies to employers with 15 or more employees.

Lensing said most Iowa employers do not engage in unfair wage discrimination. However, this bill would enhance penalties for employers that do. It authorizes the Iowa Civil Rights Commission to award damages to a person subject to wage discrimination of either double or triple the wage differential for the period of discrimination, depending on whether there was willful violation.

"For those few employers who discriminate, getting caught will be more costly than paying equal pay for equal work," Lensing said.

But House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha), said the bill does nothing to help Iowa's economy or high rate of unemployment. "There's 80,000 Iowans out of work, and the bill we're spending time on this afternoon makes it harder to be an employer in the state of Iowa," he said.