Articles Discussing Equal Pay In The Workplace.

On June 11, 2021 the U.S. Senate failed to approve advancement of the latest iteration of the Paycheck Fairness Act. In a procedural cloture vote that fell along party lines the Act fell short of receiving the required 60 votes needed to move forward. As a reminder, the version of

National Equal Pay Day was created in 1996 to raise public awareness and illustrate the disparity between men’s and women’s wages for the same work. Twenty-five years later, more remains to be done to close the gap, and employers continue to grapple with policies and processes to ensure women and minorities are paid equitably. 

On January 5, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a decision in Kellogg v. Ball State University that expanded the scope of potential evidence plaintiffs may rely on to support their Equal Pay Act (EPA) claims. The decision serves as a warning to Illinois, Indiana,

On July 2, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Rizo v. Yovino.1 The federal Equal Pay Act (EPA)2 requires “equal pay for equal work regardless of sex,” subject to four exceptions.  The question presented on the request to review the decision was whether prior

In May 2020, the United Kingdom welcomed the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act 1970, which was enacted to ensure the equal treatment of men and women in terms of pay and the conditions of employment. However, in recent months, research has revealed that women have suffered a larger

A federal judge has dismissed the Equal Pay Act (EPA) claims filed by 28 members of the U.S. Senior Women’s National Soccer Team (WNT) against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF),

finding the WNT players were actually paid more than their males counterparts on the Men’s National Team (MNT)

Prior pay, alone or in combination with other factors, is not a job-related “factor other than sex” that can be used to justify a difference in pay under the Equal Pay Act (EPA), a majority of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has held again.

Pay equity between men and women – and among different races – has long been a concern for employers who want to ensure they are paying people according to job-related reasons, in compliance with anti-discrimination laws, and in a way that aligns with the organization’s practices and philosophies. In the

A federal jury in Iowa has rejected Equal Pay Act claims by a female physician alleging she was paid less than her male colleagues in the same network for performing substantially equal work under the same compensation formula. Bertroche v. Mercy Physician Assoc., Inc., No. 1:18-cv-00059 (N.D. Iowa Nov. 13, 2019).

A majority of employers (60%) are not only conducting analyses to identify and address pay equity issues, but are conducting analyses with the objective of “resolving the root causes” of identified pay inequities, according to “Pay Equity Practices – Survey of C-Suite and Reward Leaders” from WorldatWork and Korn Ferry.

Pay equity challenges continue to make the news in the healthcare setting, primarily in the context of physician pay equity gaps. This month, the journal Pediatrics published data from the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Pediatrician Life and Career Experience Study (PLACE), which included 1,000 physician responses on income and 1,300 responses on household responsibilities.

State pay equity laws, in large part, has been a response to a perception that the federal government is not acting effectively or quickly enough to address gender and race pay gaps. Not surprisingly, several democratic presidential candidates have staked out platforms on how they will address pay inequities at the federal level – some more specific than others.

Since 2016, hundreds of bills and dozens of new laws aimed at closing the pay gap have been introduced and enacted at both the state and local levels. These laws include jurisdiction-specific pay equity laws, salary history inquiry bans, and wage transparency protections. Each of these types of laws are described more fully below.

The pay gap – or paying women and other historically marginalized groups less for the same or substantially similar work – has increasingly been in the media spotlight. Politicians have also taken note. While there have been pay discrimination laws on the books at the federal level and in most states for decades, over the past several years, state and local governments and Puerto Rico have passed numerous new laws all aimed at closing the pay gap.

On the heels of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team’s World Cup win, Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 10, 2019, signed into law two bills that expand New York’s existing equal pay laws.