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The Equal Pay Act

The Equal Pay Act (EPA) became law in 1963 as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Congress passed the EPA with the intent of finally prohibiting the practice of paying men and women different wages for the same work. However, upon the initial passing of the law, it did not work as intended. The FLSA lists a number of exceptions to its rules based on various factors, including the type of employment. Women employed in these exempt classes of employment were not protected by the EPA. To correct this oversight, in 1972 Congress extended the equal pay provisions of the FLSA to include exempt employees as well as nonexempt employees.

The EPA only applies to discrimination in wages based on sex. Other federal laws exist to address compensation discrimination against other protected groups, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

In order to bring a claim under the EPA, the plaintiff must be able to show that within a single establishment, men and women are paid different wages even though they do equal work requiring equal skill, effort and responsibility and the employees have similar working conditions.

• The single establishment requirement means one distinct place of business. It does not mean an entire business or enterprise of several places of business, with limited exceptions.
• The equal skill requirement focuses on the skills that are required to perform the job and not the individual skill sets of each applicant. The experience, ability, education and training requirements of the position are some of the factors that may be considered.
• The equal effort requirement considers the physical and mental exertion required to do the job.
• The equal responsibility requirement looks at the degree of accountability necessary to perform the job. Minor differences in responsibility cannot correlate into a higher compensation rate.
• The similar working conditions requirement considers two factors: the physical surroundings of the working conditions (like the temperature and exposure to fumes) and any hazards associated with the working environment.

In some instances, pay differentials are permissible. In an EPA case, the employer's likely defense will be that the pay differential is based on an acceptable reason and not on the sex of the employees. Some of the permissible reasons may include seniority, merit and the quantity and quality of the work.

Employees are not required to use administrative processes to file a claim under the EPA, unlike some other types of federal antidiscrimination claims. Thus, employees who feel they are being denied equal pay for equal work based on their sex can file a civil claim against their employer without first seeking an opinion from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or any other administrative body.

As with other antidiscrimination laws, employers are prohibited from discriminating against employees who file claims under the EPA or who otherwise take part in an EPA process, whether as the plaintiff, a witness or in any other capacity. Employers also may not retaliate against an employee for exercising their rights under the EPA, including terminating the employee, filing a negative performance review or demoting the employee.

In addition to remedies under the EPA for sex-based compensation discrimination, employees may have state law remedies available. For more information about filing an EPA claim, contact a knowledgeable attorney practicing in employment law in your area today. There is a limited amount of time to file an EPA claim.

Meeting with Your Employment Law Attorney

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Meeting with Your Employment Law Attorney

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