Women execs in PB and local counties not even close to earning what guys do

By Dian Vujovich

A few weeks ago The Palm Beach Post ran an op-ed comic that was oh-so sadly true. It was the drawing of the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin that instead of having the value of $1 showed a value of 77 cents.

Top that off with the recent story in that same newspaper about the executive pay given to those holding top positions in publicly traded companies in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties and the news is even uglier than what that op-ed comic depicted.

Here’s what I found:

-Of the 109 names listed in the “Post Exclusive: Annual Executive Pay Survey” chart, 11  were female.

-The average salary for the 109 execs was $443,508. Of the 11  females, only  one had a salary  equal to or above the average.

-The mean salary for the group of 109 was $387,500.  Only three females had salaries above the mean.

-The three highest paid females had annual salaries of $411,879, $485,000 and $390,000. The three highest paid males had annual salaries of $1,550,000, $1,392,300 and $1,200,000.

I’m not even going to get into the bonus,perks and total compensation packages between the male and female execs because all data was not available.

But what’s clear to me is it’s time for the public companies in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties to be head-slapped and reminded of two things: First, that executive women who are doing the same jobs as exec men and not being paid equally for their duties is considered pay discrimination. And second, companies need to be mindful of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Here is how Investopedia defines the Act:

“A law signed by Congress on January 29, 2009, that restored worker protections against pay discrimination. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act allows individuals who face pay discrimination to seek rectification under federal anti-discrimination laws. The law clarifies that discrimination based on age, religion, national origin, race, sex and disability will “accrue” every time the employee receives a paycheck that is deemed discriminatory.”

I’m  hoping at least one executive female reading this blog is able to use the info in it to get a salary hike that’s male vs. female same job equal.

Oops. After sleeping on it, I realized I was only comparing highest salaries between the men and women and not their jobs. So to clarify, the  highest positions the women held were that  of senior vice president. Men’s top positions were that of CEO. There were no women CEOs on the list.