Equal Pay Act

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 requires organizations to provide equal pay for equal work, regardless of the gender of the employee. Equal work is defined as that which requires equal skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions. Skill pertains to experience, ability, education, and training required to perform the job. Effort refers to both physical and mental exertion required. Responsibility is measured by the degree of accountability or decision making authority inherent in the job. Finally, working conditions are the physical surroundings and hazards present when the job is performed.

In essence, the Equal Pay Act requires compensation for a particular job to be based on job content rather than on the sex of the person. Employers may not assign different job titles to men and women who accomplish the same tasks and then use these labels to justify pay differentials on the basis of gender. In other words, the use of two job titles for the same job, such as “office assistant” for a male and “receptionist” for a female, is illegal when used as justification for paying less for one job title than for another.

As with most federal employment laws, some exceptions to the Equal Pay Act exist. Organizations may pay workers on the basis of a seniority system, differences in the quality of performance, or differences in productivity, even though these practices may create average salary differentials between men and women. For example, a hospital's average wage for men holding the job of lab technician may be higher than that of women simply because the women in the lab technician position have been more recently hired. Because this pay differential is based on a seniority system, the organization is not in violation of the Equal Pay Act.

The Equal Pay Act is administered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Claims under the Equal Pay Act, however, have historically accounted for less than 2% of EEOC complaints in a given year.

Related to the concept of equal pay is that of comparable worth. Although the constraints contained within the Equal Pay Act consider subject to equal pay only those jobs that are substantially equal, proponents of comparable worth argue that jobs that are comparable in skill, effort, and responsibility should be paid equally. The notion behind comparable worth is that women and men fill roles in society that are somewhat different, albeit equally important. To overcome wage differentials between women and men that are caused by disparate participation in societal roles, proponents argue that jobs should be compensated on the basis of their value to society. Teachers are a prime example of such an occupation, because teaching is a field that attracts many women but is widely believed to be [Page 191]undercompensated. Although some states have passed comparable worth laws for state employees, the federal legislature has not passed any of the many bills that have been introduced that embrace comparable worth. Furthermore, federal courts have been generally unsympathetic to comparable worth claims.