Today, the Paycheck Fairness Act — which seeks to help close the pay gap between men and women in the United States — suffered a defeat in the U.S. Senate.

Although much of the opposition to the bill is being summed up as ideologically driven, some Big Money interests also oppose it — fearing that public policy that enforces pay equity may eat into their profits.

Yesterday on Twitter, Lisa Horn, a lobbyist for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), which represents human resources officers in firms, tweeted out a link calling on SHRM members to contact Congress and voice their opposition to the bill:

Meanwhile, SRHM blasted out an email to its members warning that the bill would “restrict employer flexibility in pay decisions” — essentially complaining that employers would be deterred from making sexist pay decisions.

Susan H. Jackson, the Human Resources  (HR) Manager and Top Talent Recruiter at cruise.com, helped amplify the  SRHM message:

Several other SHRM staffers and Twitter accounts also relayed the message to HR managers across the country. When the bill failed, Horn tweeted out a victory message:

Again, much of the media portrayed the battle over the Paycheck Fairness Act as one between liberal and conservative ideologies, or between men and women. But businesses whose greed prevented them from supporting pay equity played a sizable role in the bill’s defeat as well.

Filed under: Lobbying