WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., helped mark Equal Pay Day Tuesday by reintroducing the Paycheck Fairness Act, along with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.

The legislation would strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and guarantee that women can challenge pay discrimination and hold employers accountable.

“Equal Pay Day is a vital reminder that we still have work to do to ensure that women are paid the same wages as men,” said Casey. “Pay inequality is an injustice that eats at the core of our society and economy. I will continue to fight until women are compensated fairly.”

Equal Pay Day symbolizes the date when women’s wages finally catch up to what men were paid in the previous year. Despite making up half the workforce, more than five decades after the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, American women still make only 80 cents, on average, for every dollar earned by a man. The gap is even wider for women of color, with African American women making 63 cents on the dollar, and Hispanic women making only 54 cents, on average, compared with white men.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen and close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by holding employers accountable for discriminatory practices, ending the practice of pay secrecy, easing workers’ ability to individually or jointly challenge pay discrimination, and strengthening the available remedies for wronged employees. The House legislation was introduced by DeLauro and has 195 cosponsors.