Men and women doing the same work are entitled to earn the same pay.

A federal law, the Equal Pay Act (EPA), requires employers to pay all employees equally for equal work, regardless of their gender. It was passed in 1963 as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act and an be found at 29 U.S.C. § 206.

Although the Act protects both women and men from sex discrimination in pay rates, it was passed to help rectify the wage disparity experienced by women workers. And, in practice, this law has almost always been applied to situations where women are paid less than men for doing similar jobs.

Who Is Covered

Virtually all workers are covered by the Equal Pay Act, which regulates the conduct of the state, local, and federal governments and most private employers.

Making a Claim

To successfully raise a claim under the Equal Pay Act, you must show that two employees, one male and one female:

• are working in the same place
• are doing equal work, and
• are receiving unequal pay.

However, if the employer can show that the wage disparity has a legitimate basis -- for example, that the higher earner has more seniority or more experience -- the claim will be defeated.

Determining Equal Work

Jobs do not have to be identical for the courts to consider them equal. If two employees are actually doing the same work, it doesn't matter if their titles or job descriptions differ. What counts is the duties the employees actually perform. In general, the courts have ruled that two jobs are equal for the purposes of the Equal Pay Act when both require equal levels of skill, effort, and responsibility and are performed under similar conditions.

There is a lot of room for interpretation here, of course. But the general rule is that, if there are only small differences in the skill, effort, or responsibility required, two jobs should still be regarded as equal. The biggest problems arise where two jobs are basically the same, but one includes a few extra duties. It is perfectly legal for an employer to pay more for the extra duties, but some courts have looked askance at workplaces in which the higher-paying jobs with extra duties are consistently reserved for workers of one gender.