The White House, with the backing of Ivanka Trump, will scrap an Obama administration rule that would require businesses to report data on how much workers of various races, genders, and ethnic groups are paid.
The requirement was set to go into effect this year as a way to address pay disparities, but the Trump administration is halting the rule because they believe it will be “burdensome” on businesses, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“We don’t believe it would actually help us gather information about wage and employment discrimination,” Neomi Rao, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, told the Journal.
The rule’s push back was supported by Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump’s daughter and an unpaid White House adviser, who agreed that the rule would not give the government meaningful data to act upon.
“Ultimately, while I believe the intention was good and agree that pay transparency is important, the proposed policy would not yield the intended results,” she said in a statement, according to the Journal. “We look forward to continuing to work with EEOC, OMB, Congress, and all relevant stakeholders on robust policies aimed at eliminating the gender wage gap.”
Ivanka Trump has advocated in the past for paid maternity and family leave and said earlier this year that she wanted to close the pay gap between men and women—something the Obama administration rules aimed to help solve.
#EqualPayDay is a reminder that women deserve equal pay for equal work. We must work to close the gender pay gap! https://t.co/CcwsoBXWdF
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) April 4, 2017
Earlier this year, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research published a report that found women’s median weekly earnings for full-time work were $749 in 2016 compared to $915 for men.
