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Casebook Read Credits
Employment Law
Section 23
2 hours

Equal Pay

Mary R Ziegler

The Equal Pay Act of 1963, an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, creates an independent claim for employers who are "paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs[,] the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex [...]." 29 U.S.C. §206(d). Gender pay gaps remain for cisgender women, and GLBTQ+ workers are also paid markedly less than heterosexual, male workers.

We will consider the basic operations of equal-pay claims, their limits, and their relationship to Title VII discrimination claims.

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