Summary of Federal Laws

 

Employment                                                                    

Compliance Partners

AVP for Human Resources

Related Policy

Equal Opportunity

 

Equal Employment Opportunity

 

Equal Pay Act of 1963 (part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938)

29 U.S.C. § 206(d); 29 C.F.R. Part 1620.1 et seq.

Prohibits sex discrimination in compensation or benefits for women and men who work in the same establishment and perform jobs that require equal skill, effort, and responsibility and which are performed under similar conditions.

 

Recordkeeping:  See 29 C.F.R. § 1620.32.  Employers must keep and preserve all records required by the applicable sections of 29 C.F.R. § 516 (Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA)) and, in addition, shall preserve any records made in the regular course of business relating to wages, job evaluations and descriptions, merit systems, seniority systems, collective bargaining systems, and any other matters which explain the difference for any wage differential for employees of the opposite sex in the same establishment.  Records explaining the wage differential must be kept for two years.

 

Posting:  A summary of the law must be posted.  See FLSA regulations at 29 C.F.R. § 516.4.

 

Guidance:  EEOC Notice Number 915.002 (Oct. 29, 1997) Enforcement Guidance on Sex Discrimination in the Compensation of Sports Coaches in Educational Institutions clarifies how the Equal Pay Act and Title VII apply to sex-based differences in the compensations of sports coaches. 

 

Compliance Manual:  Section 3 of the EEOC compliance manual  entitled Employee Benefits, explains how the employment discrimination laws apply to life and health insurance benefits, long-term and short-term disability benefits, severance benefits, pension or other retirement benefits, and early retirement incentives. The section covers discrimination in these benefits under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), and the Equal Pay Act (EPA).

 

Section 10 of the Compliance Manual covers complaints of discrimination in  compensation based under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), and the Equal Pay Act (EPA). The following are examples of compensation discrimination addressed in the Compliance Manual:

• an employer maintains a neutral compensation policy or practice that has an adverse impact on employees in a protected class and cannot be justified as job-related and consistent with business necessity;

• an employer sets the pay for jobs predominantly held by protected class members below that suggested by the employer's job evaluation study, while the pay for jobs predominantly held by employees outside the protected class is consistent with the level suggested by the job evaluation study;

• a discriminatory compensation system has been discontinued, but salary disparities caused by the system have not been eradicated; or

• the compensation of one or more employees in a protected class is artificially depressed because of a discriminatory employer practice that affects compensation, such as steering employees in a protected class to lower paid jobs than persons outside the class, or discriminating in promotions, performance appraisals, procedures for assigning work, or training opportunities.

 

Title VII, the ADEA, and the ADA prohibit discrimination in "compensation" based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or protected activity.

 

 

links updated 3/4/09 rab

3/11/09 compliance partner added mlo
compliance box links updated 6/3/09 rab

updated 6/14/09 to add related policy