EMPLOYMENT LAW BULLETIN

Vol. 01, No. 09

Courtesy of Eskridge Law, Attorneys at Law

The topic for this month's bulletin is compensation discrimination and the Equal Pay Act. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, compensation discrimination is still a very real workplace problem. The EEOC has recently issued comprehensive new guidelines to assist employers in complying with Equal Pay laws.

Under the Equal Pay Act, employers must pay equal wages to men and women who perform jobs that require substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility and that are performed in the same workplace under similar work conditions.

What factors should employers consider?
The EEOC says employers should consider the following factors when analyzing whether jobs are similar:

1. Skill: This refers to the experience, ability, education and training required for the job. For example, a dishwasher who has a master's degree is not entitled to any greater compensation than a dishwasher without a master's degree, since a master's degree is not required for the job.



2. Effort: This refers to the amount of physical or mental exertion needed. If a particular job involves more physical or mental exertion than another job, it is appropriate for that job to provide better compensation.



3. Responsibility: This is the degree of accountability the job requires -- for example, how much the employee works without supervision or exercises supervisory functions. (Note: Job titles are not definitive. Giving a male employee a higher title does not justify giving him more compensation, if he is doing the same work as female employees who are being paid less compensation.)



4. Working Conditions: This includes the job's environmental surroundings -- such as heat, cold, noise, and physical hazards.

Risks for employers under the Equal Pay Act: It is important to understand the compensation rules because wage discrimination claims can be very expensive. Besides a pay increase, female employees may be entitled to twice the amount of the differential in back pay, which includes salary, bonuses and pension contributions, plus attorneys' fees and sometimes even punitive damages.

Risks for employers under other laws: While the Equal Pay Act prohibits employers from paying lesser wages to women who are performing comparable work, there are other laws which prohibit employers from basing compensation on an employee's race, national origin, religion or sexual orientation. Paying workers outside a protected class more than workers in the protected class, for performing comparable work, is illegal. Also illegal is wrongfully failing to promote workers in protected classes.

Additional information: More information on this topic can be obtained at http://www.eeoc.gov/docs/compensation.html, or by contacting Eskridge Law.

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