The Equal Pay Act (EPA), enacted in 1963 as an amendment to the FLSA, makes it unlawful for an employer to pay employees who perform the same work at different rates of pay based upon gender. If jobs require the same skill, effort and responsibility and are performed under similar working conditions, female employees must be paid the same as their male coworkers. Violations may not be corrected by lowering the wages of higher-paid workers.
Each new paycheck constitutes a new and separate violation. Each year, employers with 100 or more employees (50 or more employees for federal contractors/subcontractors) must file Form EEO-1, which reports employee race/ethnicity, gender and job category data, with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Equal pay laws have also started to gain momentum in the states. California, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Oregon are a few of the states with equal pay laws on the books; and more states are looking to follow suit.
Unlike other provisions of the FLSA, the EPA applies to executive, administrative, professional employees, and outside salespersons who are normally exempt from overtime as...
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