Equal Pay Act of 1963

Legislation calling for equal pay for equal work was first proposed in Congress in 1945. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) was finally signed into law on June 10, 1963, by President John F. Kennedy—18 years after the National War Labor Board mandated equal pay for equal work in 1942. However, the act was controversial because of the objections of numerous members of the business community.

Numerous reasons were given during congressional testimony about why women should be paid less than men. First, employers cited the higher turnover rates of working women because of family obligations as a valid reason for paying women lower hourly wages. Employers also cited state laws that prohibited women from working at night, laws that limited the actual number of hours worked and the amount of weight a woman could lift. There was also the historical bias in the system of compensation in the United States during that period; in the 1950s, two-thirds of families had a bread-winning husband and a stay-at-home wife. Many women workers at this time were viewed as working for “pin money”—income not vital to the survival of the household. Through the combination of these reasons, many in the business community as well as in society stood against equal pay for equal work.

The EPA requires, as a general rule, that men and women who work in jobs that are substantively equal in terms of skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions shall receive the same pay. The original bill that was proposed required equal pay for “comparable work.” However, this stipulation was changed before the passage of the bill to “equal work.” The EPA permits differences in wages based on seniority, merit, quality, or quantity of production, or other differentials not based on gender. In EPA cases, plaintiffs have the burden of proof to show that women were paid less than men and that the work involved was “substantively equal.” Also, until the passage of the Educational Amendments in 1972, those employed in an executive, administrative, or professional capacities were excluded from the protection of the EPA as a consequence of the EPA being bundled into the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The EPA was enacted as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, which regulates minimum wages, overtime, and child labor, because it was politically expedient to have the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor oversee the enforcement of the EPA rather than push for the development of a new administrative body. As a result of the Reorganization Act of 1977, the enforcement of the EPA shifted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1979, where it remains.