Autumn McClain  |  July 23, 2020

Category: Consumer Guides

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The California Equal Pat Act helps protect employee rights.

The California Equal Pay Act is a law meant to prohibit employers from paying their employees less for equal work because of their sex. The Act also restricts employers from retaliating against employees who make allegations under this Act. If you feel your employer has violated any of the provisions described below, you may be able to file a class action lawsuit or a California Equal Pay Act complaint against your employer.

Is the California Equal Pay Act New Legislation?

According to the state’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), while the California Equal Pay Act has been in place for decades, it receives frequent amendments and was strengthened by an additional law called the California Fair Pay Act in 2015. The Fair Pay Act establishes a number of changes to the Equal Pay Act including each of the following:

  • Employers are required to provide equal pay for “substantially similar work”
  • Employees need not compare work at the “same establishment” to prove a violation
  • Proving a “bona fide factor other than sex” led to inequity is now much more difficult
  • Employers must rely upon legitimate factors to determine pay inequities and must be able to prove those factors account for the entire pay difference
  • It is illegal for employers to retaliate against employees who seek enforcement of the Act
  • Employers must now maintain wage and employment records for three rather than two years.

These changes went into effect in January of 2016, but yearly amendments have further changed the effects of the California Equal Pay Act. For instance, in 2017, race and ethnicity were added as protected categories. This addition means the law prohibits employers from paying less for substantially similar work due to a person’s race or ethnicity in the same way it prohibits such behavior due to a person’s sex. An employer also can’t use an employee’s prior salary or wage to justify differences in rates of pay between people of different races, sexes, or ethnicities.

In 2018, the California Equal Pay Act was extended to cover public employees. This amendment also prohibits employers from seeking applicants’ salary histories (with some exceptions) and requires employers to provide employees with pay scales upon request.

What Does the California Fair Pay Act Provide?

The California Fair Pay Act adds provisions to the Equal Pay Act providing protections for employees. It prohibits employers from paying workers of the opposite sex or another race or ethnicity differently for substantially similar work. The work should be viewed as a “composite of skill, effort, and responsibility… performed under similar working conditions”, according to the DIR.

An employee can file a California Equal Pay Act complaint in order to seek compensation for the difference in wages and interest as well as an equal amount as liquidated damages. If a person files a class action lawsuit under this Act, they may also be eligible for attorney’s fees and court costs.

The Equal Pay Act also provides protections for those who file complaints under its provision. Employers are prohibited from retaliating against an employee for filing a complaint, and must not prohibit employees from discussing their wages with others or encouraging others to exercise their rights provided by the Equal Pay Act.

The California Equal Pay Act helps protect employee rights.How Can You Make a Claim Under the Equal Pay Act?

If you feel you have been paid less for the same work due to your sex, race, or ethnicity, you can file a California Equal Pay Act complaint or a class action lawsuit. Complaints can be filed with the Labor Commissioner’s Office and, depending on the claim, may also need to be filed with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

Successful California Equal Pay Act cases must prove a number of different things. First, they need to prove that they are in fact being paid less than employees of the opposite sex, another race, or another ethnicity. They will also need to prove that they perform “substantially similar work” to that performed by the comparative employees.

“Substantially similar work” means work that is similar in skill, responsibility, and effort that is performed under similar conditions. Skill means the training and education necessary to do the work. Responsibility means the degree of accountability to which the employees are held. Effort refers to the mental or physical exertion needed for the performance of the work. And, finally, working conditions refers to a worker’s physical surroundings, including ventilation, temperature, and the presence of fumes or other hazards.

Once an employee has proven these two things, the employer will have an opportunity to justify any inequities in pay. Your California Equal Pay Act complaint may be dismissed if your employer can contradict or justify the factors laid out in your complaint.

When Does a Complaint Need to Be Made?

The California Equal Pay Act statute of limitations is two years. This means that an employee has two years from the date of the alleged violation to file a complaint or bring litigation against their employer. However, if the employee can prove that their employer willfully violated the law, then they have three years to file. For the purposes of calculating a deadline for filing, each paycheck reflecting unequal pay constitutes a violation of the act.

When you file may affect how much compensation you’re eligible for due to the California Equal Pay Act statute of limitations. For instance, if a woman begins work in 2018 for an employer who continuously pays her less than her male counterparts, then she has until January 2020 to file a complaint seeking recovery of unequal pay going back to 2018. If she waits until 2021 to file, then she can only recover pay going back two years, to 2019. However, if the employer begins paying the woman equal pay in 2019, and the employee waits until 2021 to file, then she will have missed the deadline to receive the recovery of unequal pay because the last violation would fall outside the California Equal Pay Act statute of limitations.

How Can a Claim Be Dismissed Under the Equal Pay Act?

Just as an employee must prove a few things in order to successfully file a California Equal Pay Act complaint, an employer can get that complaint dismissed by disproving those same factors. To defeat a claim, an employer must prove that the difference in pay is justifiable either due to a difference in seniority, merit, production, or a “bona fide factor other than race, sex, or ethnicity”.

The employer must further prove that the justifying factor reasonably accounts for the entire difference in pay. No part of the pay inequity can be blamed on race, sex, ethnicity, or the employee’s prior salary. However, an employer can base compensation decisions on the employee’s current salary, but those decisions must be justified by one of the factors listed above.

Join a Free Gender Pay Disparity Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you are a woman who has experienced the effects of the gender pay gap in your workplace, you may qualify to join this gender pay gap and equal pay lawsuit investigation.

See if you qualify for this class action lawsuit investigation by filling out the free form on this page.

Get a Free Case Evaluation

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.

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