LETTER: Assembly Bill would be a help to those who face workplace wage discrimination

The Review-Journal’s March 10 editorial, “Bill on pay equity is unnecessary,” turned the blood in my veins hotter than fire.

The editorial concerned Assembly Bill 178, which increases the time frame to make a pay discrimination claim. This bill also makes it easier for a person to prove wage discrimination in the workplace. The editorial stated that, “Genuine victims of such inequity have plenty of avenues to seek redress. There’s no need to litter the Nevada Revised Statutes with Assembly Bill 178.” What exactly is this supposed to mean? It shouldn’t matter how many avenues a person has to report discrimination.

The editorial also stated that this bill is based on the “myth” that men make more than women do. Here in Nevada , women make about 84 percent of what men make. That’s a small wage gap. Nonetheless, it is a gap. This small gap matters to a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet. This small gap matters to a grandmother who is still working because she has to raise her grandchildren.

Las Vegas is full of families that are barely making ends meet. So when someone finally gets a job opportunity but it is ripped away due to discrimination, there should be endless opportunities to report this — to report the illegal act of biased business owners taking food out of the mouths of our children.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been put in place, and AB 178 has been proposed, to make sure that everyone gets treated equally in the workplace. These are two pieces of legislation intended to ensure that the American Dream is still possible for everyone regardless of race, gender and religion.

AB 178 would have been very helpful to me in terms of my own personal experience. No one else would have to go through that same distress I had to feel when I was let go based on my skin color. Discrimination is a real issue.