Should Maryland enact a pay equity law?

North Dakota, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Oregon are among the states that have done so.

I began the process of working on this issue after reading a newspaper article this weekend, headlined “How Boston Is Taking On the Gender Pay Gap.”

My first question: Do we need this bill in Maryland?

I emailed the General Assembly’s professional staff on Monday: “To what extent does the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act provide greater protections for employees than existing federal or Maryland law?”

If the reply indicates the additional protections are warranted, I’ll share it with advocacy groups to learn their interest in working on such legislation.

This would not be the first time I worked on fairness in the workplace.

I successfully introduced the Lilly Ledbetter Civil Rights Restoration Act of 2009, which expands workers’ opportunity to file a claim for unequal pay.

It was prompted by reading a court decision, a dissent writing by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.