Jeff Mathias
All other conditions being equal, the Equal Pay Act ("EPA") prohibits an employer from paying a man more than a woman for doing the same job.
The EPA is just one of a number of federal laws that protect the right of employees to be free from discrimination in how they are compensated. The Act specifically prohibits:
- Paying different wages to employees of different sexes, if their respective jobs require equal "skill, effort and responsibility" and are performed under the same conditions.
- Retaliating against an employee for filing a claim under the act or for cooperating with an investigation of such a claim.
But an employer's hands aren't completely tied. If fact, the EPA allows an employer to argue that a pay disparity is the result of:
- A seniority salary system
- A merit salary system
- A system that bases salary on quantity or quality of production
- Any factor other than sex
The EPA could come into play in any situation where a business such as a manufacturing plant has employees who could be categorized as doing essentially the same job. In such cases, an employer may be subject to an EPA claim if employees of one sex are being paid more than employees of another sex.
An employee has several options in pursing an EPA claim. A first option would be to file a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), the federal agency that oversees such claims. Another option for a disgruntled employee would be purse a private lawyer against his or her employer.
Damages available under a private wage discrimination lawsuit under the EPA could include:
- Back pay for up to three years from the time of filing the lawsuit
- Liquidated damages, which can be several times your actual wage loss
- Interest
- Attorney fees
- Costs
- Court orders to stop or reverse an employer's retaliatory actions
It would be a mistake for an employer to assume that an employee wouldn't be able to hire a lawyer to bring such a claim, because a court is required to award attorney fees in favor of an employee with a winning claim. This being the law, many lawyers will take EPA cases on a "contingency basis," which means that the employee may only have to pay only for actual costs as the case proceeds, with the lawyer getting a percentage of the amounts recovered against the employer.
An employee can also file a civil rights complaint under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act . Similar laws may also exist in the state where the business is located.
From a practical standpoint, employees will usually pursue an EPA claim along with claims under one or more of these other acts at the same time.
Jeff Mathias has a general law practice in Ames, Iowa, specializing in plaintiffs' employment law, including wages, overtime and discrimination.
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