WHEREAS, Maine law states that an employer may not discriminate between employees in the same establishment on the basis of sex by paying wages to any employee in any occupation in this State at a rate less than the rate at which the employer pays any employee of the opposite sex for comparable work on jobs that have comparable requirements relating to skill, effort and responsibility; and

WHEREAS, wage inequality remains an ongoing issue though requirements regarding equal pay have been part of Maine law since 1949; and

WHEREAS, wage inequality causes substantial harm to Maine citizens and the economy, as Maine women earn a median of over $9,000 less annually for the same amount of time worked; and

WHEREAS, on a national level, women working full-time, year-round are typically paid just 84 cents for every dollar paid to men and the wage gap is even greater for most women of color; and

WHEREAS, even though Maine Equal Pay Day is recognized annually on the first Tuesday of April, March 12, 2024 symbolizes how far into the year women in the United States must have worked to earn what men had earned by December 31, 2023.

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim March 12, 2024 as

National Equal Pay Day

in Maine, and I encourage all citizens to take part in activities and observances designed to celebrate the value of women’s skills and the significant contributions that women make to our labor force.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this eighth day of March Two Thousand Twenty-Four