Chilean law mandating equal pay for men, women takes effect

SANTIAGO - Chilean companies are required to pay men and women the same wage for doing the same job, thanks to the equal-pay law that came into effect Saturday.

“Nothing justifies a woman being paid less than a man for doing the same work,” the minister of the national woman’s service (Sernam), Carmen Andrade, said Saturday when presenting the statute.

According to the International Labour Organization, or ILO, in 2005 Chilean women earned just 79 percent of the wage paid to their male co-workers, while the survey taken by National Socioeconomic Characterisation (Casen) in 2006 put the percentage at 76 percent.

The new law modifies the Labour Code and establishes that every company with more than 10 workers on its payroll must include in its internal regulations a procedure allowing female employees who feel they are being treated unfairly to present a formal complaint.

It also obliges companies with more than 200 workers to keep a register of employee jobs and responsibilities.

Employers may, however, establish certain differences in wages in cases where that is justified on the basis of such objective aspects as abilities, qualifications, suitability, responsibility and productivity.

–EFE