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Topic of the Week: Are you a victim of pay discrimination?

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Topic of the Week  Are you a victim of pay discrimination?

• skill
  
• effort
  
• responsibility
  
• working conditions
  
• establishment

Under the Equal Pay Act (EPA), a claimant for pay discrimination “does not have to prove that two jobs are identical but rather must show that the “skill, effort and responsibility required in the performance of the jobs are substantially equal.” Work is “substantially equal” for purposes of the EPA if it requires “equal skill, effort, and responsibility. This determination turns on the actual content of the job-not mere job descriptions or titles. 

The law looks to many factors when determining whether or not pay/compensation discrimination has occurred. Each of these factors is summarized in categories below:

skill: measured by factors such as the experience, ability, education, and training required to perform the job. The critical issue is what skills are required for the job, not what skills the individual employees may have.

effort: the amount of physical or mental exertion needed to perform the job.

responsibility: the degree of accountability required in performing the job.
working conditions: encompasses two factors: (1) physical surroundings like 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. In some circumstances, physically separate places of business may be treated as one establishment. For example, if a central administrative unit hires employees, sets their compensation, and assigns them to separate work locations, the separate work sites can be considered part of one establishment

Differences in pay are permitted when they are based on seniority, merit, quantity or quality of production. These are known as affirmative defenses and it is the employer’s responsibility to prove that they apply.

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