On Thursday, April 5, and Friday, April 6, Gov. Scott Walker signed more than 50 bills into law.

The move took many by surprise as it wasn’t announced until Friday, after he had signed more than 30 of those bills.

Of these many new laws, the act of repealing the Equal Pay Enforcement Act is the one that I find particularly confusing.

The bill to end the  Equal Pay Enforcement Act is unnecessary. By repealing the act, Walker has made it more difficult for many people who have faced pay discrimination to sue their employer for damages.

The Equal Pay Enforcement Act was signed into law in 2009 to deter employers from discriminating against employees on the terms of race and gender.

Women, who were protected under this act, are only paid 78 cents to every dollar a man makes in the state of Wisconsin. Because of this, several Democrats such as Kathleen Falk have called Walker’s repeal an attack on women’s rights.

While I wouldn’t say it’s an attack on women’s rights per se, it certainly doesn’t make it any easier to sue in a discrimination case.

The Equal Pay Enforcement Act  allowed individuals to sue employers who had discriminated against them in the more accessible and affordable state court system. Without the Equal Pay Enforcement Act, these cases have to be tried in the federal court, which costs much more.

And the Walker administration has given no legitimate reason for repealing the Equal Pay Enforcement Act. Walker said in a statement on April 10 that these cases clog up the legal system, but I can’t imagine how.

Yes, it made it possible for employees to sue at the state level, but it doesn’t mean that they do. Since the law went into effect in 2009, no cases have been tried in the state court.

If that’s the case, one might wonder why this is a relevant issue to be discussed. It is relevant because the Equal Pay Enforcement Act protected the civil rights of Wisconsinites.

Even if there had been an all of a sudden rush of discrimination cases seen in the state court, they would have been cases to protect civil rights. Somehow, I don’t see how this is a bad thing.

I would like to think that the legal system of the state I’m living in would want to help me as much as possible if I were paid less solely because I am a woman. I would like to think that at least part of the reason state legal systems exist is to
protect  citizens.

I would also like a state that makes it clear to employers that wage discrimination is not OK and will be punished.

Now while the repeal makes it so employers can’t be sued at the state level, I would like to point out  that Walker has not by any means made it impossible for people to file discrimination complaints in Wisconsin. Despite several Democrats proclaiming that this makes it impossible for women to take any action against pay discrimination, there are still options.

Please remember that the Equal Pay Enforcement Act was passed in 2009.  It’s not like before 2009 workers absolutely couldn’t sue for wage discrimination in Wisconsin.

Employees who have been discriminated against can still file employment discrimination complaints either through the state Equal Rights Division or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

With these options, if workers prove discrimination was at play, at the state level the employer is ordered to pay back pay with interest, legal fees and job reinstatement if the worker was fired. At the federal level, a settlement is reached covering the above costs.

However, compensatory and punitive damages can only be reached by suing employers, something Walker has now made more difficult.

It is easier and more affordable for people to sue at the state level rather than the federal level and the people the Equal Pay Enforcement Act protected can’t necessarily afford to go to the federal court system. I mean, they want to go to court because they are being cheated out of wages.

While many Democrats are focusing their attention on this by calling it a blow to women’s rights, that description doesn’t cover it all.

What the repeal of the Equal Pay Enforcement Act really is is a blow to civil rights.