NC NOW Press Release: HB 2 Disastrous for Women

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Gailya Paliga, President of NC National Organization for Women (NC NOW)
Phone number: 919-539-7702
Email address: president@raleighnow.org
Website: www.northcarolinanow.org

NC NOW: HB 2 Disastrous for Women

Raleigh, NC, 4/7/16 – Much of the public discussion over HB 2 has focused on its harm to the LGBT community (which includes women) and the backlash of opposition from businesses, sporting event organizers, and elected officials inside and outside of NC.  However, the new law goes way beyond the LGBT community.  The extensive changes to protections in this bill (now law) hurt women in shocking ways.

• “HB 2 eliminates all existing state law remedies for women from being demoted, transferred, or terminated from their job because of their sex,” according to Rick Glazier, in “18 Questions, 18 Answers: The Real Facts Behind House Bill 2,” 4/1/16. Rick Glazier is the Executive Director of the NC Justice Center, a lawyer, and the former Representative of Cumberland County, which he served for 7 terms.

• In fact, the new law prevents workplace discrimination claims for all North Carolina workers from North Carolina courts, nullifying 30 years of common-law precedent and forcing people who say they’ve been unfairly fired from their jobs to turn to the federal courts for relief,” according to Greg Lacour, in “The HB2 Provision Few Are Talking About,” 4/4/16.  Federal courts are harder to navigate and usually more expensive, making it less accessible for women who still earn less than men. “In 2014, female full-time workers made only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 21 percent,” according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
• In addition, HB 2 targets women with the restriction on minimum wage. According to a report from the National Women’s Law Center released in May 2015, women represent close to two-thirds of minimum wage workers in North Carolina, and in the nation. “Women and racial minorities are minimum wage workers the state is willing to put at great risk, even doubling the problems for women of color,” said Marena Groll, who is working on the April 12th launch of an alliance of groups working toward the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).  Groll is founder of NC4ERA, which is a project of NC NOW.
• And furthermore, “HB 2 overturned and eliminated all existing local ordinances and any ability to enact family leave policies, child welfare protections, limits on the number of consecutive hours an employee may be required to work without a break or health insurance standards for any contractors in their community,” according to Glazier.

NC NOW’s President Gailya Paliga said “Women are fed up with laws like HB 2 that diminish our rights so significantly that they reinforce the need for constitutional protection for women.”

It’s difficult to overestimate the damage this law has done to women in NC. It deserves to be repealed immediately to stop the damage to our people, our economy and to North Carolina’s reputation. 

Call these people to voice your opposition:

Governor Pat McCrory
Email through https://governor.nc.gov/contact/email-governor
(919) 814-2050

Rep. Tim Moore (R-Cleveland)
Speaker, NC House of Representatives
919-733-3451
Tim.Moore@ncleg.net

Sen. Phil Berger (R-Rockingham)
President Pro Tempore
(919) 733-5708
Phil.Berger@ncleg.net 

For more information, contact: Gailya Paliga, NC National Organization for Women, 919-539-7702

NOW’s purpose is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men. This purpose includes, but is not limited to, equal rights and responsibilities in all aspects of citizenship, public service, employment, education, and family life, and it includes freedom from discrimination because of race, ethnic origin, age, marital status, sexual preference/orientation, or parenthood.

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