By
Terry Orr
The right of employees to be free from discrimination in
their compensation is protected under several federal laws, including the
following enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC):
the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 and Title I of the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990.
The Equal Pay Act requires that men and women be given
equal pay for equal work in the same establishment. The jobs need not be
identical, but they must be substantially equal. It is job content, not job
titles, that determines whether jobs are substantially equal. Specifically, the
EPA provides:
Employers may not pay unequal wages to men and women who
perform jobs that require substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility,
and that are performed under similar working conditions within the same
establishment. Each of these factors is summarized below:
Skill: Measured by factors such as the experience,
ability, education and training required to perform the job. The key issue is
what skills are required for the job, not what skills the individual employees
may have. For example, two bookkeeping jobs could be considered equal under the
EPA even if one of the job holders has a master's degree in physics, since that
degree would not be required for the job.
Effort: The amount of physical or mental exertion needed
to perform the job. For example, suppose that men and women work side by side on
a line assembling machine parts. The person at the end of the line must also
lift the assembled product as he or she completes the work and place it on a
board. That job requires more effort than the other assembly line jobs if the
extra effort of lifting the assembled product off the line is substantial and
is a regular part of the job. As a result, it would not be a violation to pay
that person more, regardless of whether the job is held by a man or a woman.
Responsibility: The degree of accountability required in
performing the job. For example, a salesperson who is delegated the duty of
determining whether to accept customers' personal checks has more
responsibility than other salespeople. On the other hand, a minor difference in
responsibility, such as turning out the lights at the end of the day, would not
justify a pay differential.
Working Conditions: This encompasses two factors: (1)
physical surroundings, such as temperature, fumes and ventilation; and (2)
hazards.
Establishment: The
prohibition against compensation discrimination under the EPA applies only to
jobs within an establishment. An establishment is a distinct physical place of
business rather than an entire business or enterprise consisting of several
places of business. However, in some circumstances, physically separate places
of business should be treated as one establishment. For example, if a central
administrative unit hires employees, sets their compensation and assigns them
to work locations, the separate work sites can be considered part of one
establishment.
Pay differentials are permitted when they are based on
seniority, merit, quantity or quality of production, or a factor other than
sex. These are known as "affirmative defenses," and it is the
employer's burden to prove that they apply. (Source: SHRM)
From my personal experiences – though somewhat bias – as my
working career has been twenty years in the US Navy and then 27 years as a
defense contractor. In both careers –
folks were given equal pay for equal jobs as defined above. However, the second career was terrible
regarding the “Glass Ceiling” – primarily due to the ‘ole boy’ brotherhood. A
few inroads have been made – but for the most part – that problem still exist.
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