DENVER (January 21, 2015) – This afternoon the Colorado Senate Committee on Business, Labor and Technology will consider the sunset of the Colorado Pay Equity Commission. Without reauthorization, the committee will automatically discontinue operations, and Compass Colorado urges the Business, Labor and Technology Committee to allow just that.

Since its creation, the Pay Equity Commission has had several meetings that didn’t even achieve a quorum, and many of the charges granted to the Commission statutorily have not been met. In addition, one the few things the Commission has managed to accomplish is to perpetuate grossly misleading statistics on equal pay, and vilify Colorado’s business community.

Even the report generated by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies for the sunset review concedes the following:

“The Pay Equity Commission (PEC) was created to increase awareness of pay inequity and to develop mechanisms to address it. The PEC has made some, though minimal progress on its assigned tasks.”

“There is not a single person who wants any group or gender to be paid less for equal work,” said Kelly Maher, Executive Director of Compass Colorado. “The Pay Equity Commission, however, not only didn’t meet its statutory obligations, it perpetuates misnomers about equal pay in Colorado, and unnecessarily vilifies Colorado’s businesses.”

###