Roger Clegg of the Center for Equal Opportunity has a good heads-up today in the Wall Street Journal about three pieces of legislation currently under consideration in Congress. One would enshrine the discredited anti-market notion of “comparable worth” as a cause of action for persons whose jobs ought to be considered “worth as much” as wholly different jobs dominated by the opposite sex. The second would add “sexual orientation” to the list of characteristics on the basis of which employment discrimination is forbidden. And the third would, among other things, re-establish the “disparate impact” standard for discrimination lawsuits, so that plaintiffs would only have to show that racial parity did not exist in a workplace in order to “prove” that discrimination is the cause.
Bad ideas all, as Roger explains at length. And he reports that all three are supported by both Clinton and Obama, while McCain is on record as opposing the second (at least). Whenever the Democrats are finished choosing their nominee, it would be good to see questions raised about these bills in a debate between McCain and his Democratic rival.