Equal Pay Act of 1963

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) was intended to prevent sex discrimination in wages. It is part of a larger architecture of fairness in wages known as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The EPA is one of the few employment statutes that identifies a single protected class (i.e., gender, although age is another protected category). The act permits unequal pay for men and women if any of the following foundations are used to determine pay: (a) bona fide seniority systems, (b) merit-based pay systems, (c) a pay system that uses quantity or quality of production as a basis for allocating wages, or (d) a system of allocation based on any factor other than sex of the employee. The act further prohibits an employer ...