What are the Wage Equality Laws?

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal Equal Pay Act requires employers to pay both men and women equal pay for equal work. Equal work does not necessarily mean identical jobs.

California also has its own state laws that protect employees from wage discrimination: the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and the California Equal Pay Act (EPA) under Cal. Lab. Code § 1197.5. The EPA specifies a number of ways to compare the content of one job to another to determine whether wage inequality is present:

Skill

The EPA determines the skill of the job based on factors such as the position’s required experience, ability, education and training. The skills required for the job, not the skills possessed by the individual employees, determine the comparative skill level of a position.

Effort

This is a measure of the physical or mental exertion required by the position. Jobs do not need to be alike to require similar effort levels.

Responsibility

This measures the amount of accountability associated with the position. For example, a position that requires an individual to manage the company’s budget requires more responsibility than turning out the lights at the end of the day.

Working Conditions

The work environment determines the conditions of the job. This is comprised of two factors: components of physical surroundings, such as temperature, ventilation, etc., and any hazards in the workplace.

Establishment

A wage inequality case is only valid for jobs within a single physical location, rather than inequality between separate locations of one business. In some cases, separate locations may be treated as a single establishment.

If two jobs are comparable in the criteria listed above, they may count as equal work according to the Equal Pay Act. If two individuals perform equal work, it is illegal for one to receive less pay than the other. Payment includes all forms of compensation, such as salary, overtime pay, bonuses, stock options, profit sharing and other benefits.

Wage Discrimination Claim for Equal Pay Act Violations

A successful claim for equal pay violations may be able to recover your lost wages, interest on those wages, your attorney’s fees and court costs among other damages. Our California employment lawyers have several decades of experience resolving labor disputes. Contact our employment law firm located in Southern California by calling (310) 943-8005 to address your workers’ rights.