Question

Equal employment opportunity commission(EEOC) Quotes;

• “The requirement of the equal pay for equal work under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963 has not eliminated sex-based discrimination in compensation…”

• “When different type of discrimination were tallied, unwanted sexual attention (38%) and unfair treatment (37%) were most common, followed by sexist comments (25%).”

• “The Federal Government needs to do more and further empower the States to take aggressive steps to be proactive and narrow the wage gap. The Paycheck Fairness Act needs to come to fruition”.

EQUAL PAY ACT; (can do);

• Requiring equal pay for equal work has been a long, difficult struggle.

• Attempts were made as early as the 1870’s and specific laws failed in Congress from 1945-1962.

• Passed in 1963, a year before Title VII!.

• Law makes it illegal to pay men and women different wages for jobs of equal work.

• Only deals with sex differences in pay rates.

• No proof of intent is needed.

• Have 3 years to file a claim of a willful violation.

EQUAL PAY ACT (cont’d);

4 Affirmative Defenses. 1. A Seniority System (as often seen in union environments). 2. A Merit System. 3. A system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production. 4. A differential based on any other factor other than sex.

-Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009;

• Enacted on January 29, 2009 • First law signed by President Obama.

• Repudiated U.S. Supreme Court holding in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007.

) • Essentially eliminates statute of limitations defense in disparate pay cases.

-Key Provisions of Fair Pay Act;

• Extends statute of limitations.

– 180/300 days from the date of the unlawful employment practice to file a charge.

– Each payment reflecting a discriminatory decision resets the period to file a charge of disparate pay.

– Applicable to pension, severance as well as regular paychecks.

Question: Has the Equal Pay Act been effective in what it set out to accomplish? What do you think is needed to achieve equitable worth?

Answer 1

The main objective of the Equal Pay Act was to facilitate the equal and nondiscriminatory compensation to all the employees irrespective of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and so on. The act was passed  On June 10, 1963, and it mandated that there should not be any discrimination in the payment of the compensation. But still, there is a huge gap between the compensation level of males and female and in fact, many cases have been seen where the compensation has been differentiated ven on the basis of the religion and race.

Thus, the main objective of the Equal Pay Act has not been accomplished yet and there are many cases depicting this. In order to have the objectives of this act to be accomplished, there are two most important aspects that are needed to be done. First, the awareness has to be generated both at the employer and employee level that any sort of pay discrimination is not only illegal but it is unethical. Without proper awareness, no law can be successful.

Secondly, the law has to be made more potent by implementing the clauses and guidelines of the law more seriously. Any event of pay discrimination must be treated very harshly and if the claim is proved to be correct then the employer must be given severe punishment. Without the carrot and stick policy, the employers will keep on doing the pay discrimination.