Paid Unfairly Due To Your Gender?

Equal Pay Act Lawyers in Los Angeles Handle Wage Discrimination Claims

Gender wage inequality is still a concern for many workers, even after passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Wage inequality is a form of discrimination. The Equal Pay Act lawyers at our Los Angeles employment law firm protect victims of sex and gender discrimination.
 
Our equal pay lawyers bring unique experiences in upholding the law to every equal pay claim they represent. Lawyer Douglas Silverstein used to represent employers, so he can anticipate and respond to claims made by your employer. Attorney Brian Kesluk is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, a prestigious organization of trial lawyers who have won clients multimillion-dollar awards. Wage discrimination attorney Michael Jacob was named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers magazine.

What are the Wage Equality Laws?

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal Equal Pay Act requires employers to pay men and women equal pay for equal work. Equal work does not necessarily mean identical jobs.

California also has its own state laws that protect employees from wage discrimination. These include the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and the California Equal Pay Act (EPA) under Cal. Lab. Code § 1197.5. The EPA specifies a number of ways to compare the content of one job to another to determine wage inequality.

What Does the EPA Include to Determine Wage Equality?

Examples include:

• Skill – The EPA determines the skill of the job based on factors such as the position’s required experience, ability, education and training. The skills required for the job, not the skills possessed by the individual employees, determine the comparative skill level of a position.
• Effort – This is a measure of the physical or mental exertion required by the position. Jobs do not need to be alike to require similar effort levels.
• Responsibility – This measures the amount of accountability associated with the position. For example, a position that requires an individual to manage the company’s budget requires more responsibility than turning out the lights at the end of the day.
• Working Conditions – The work environment determines the conditions of the job. This includes two factors: components of physical surroundings, such as temperature, ventilation etc. and any hazards in the workplace.
• Establishment – A wage inequality case is only valid for jobs within a single physical location, rather than inequality between separate locations of one business. In some cases, separate locations may be treated as a single establishment.

What happens if two jobs are comparable in the criteria listed above? Then the Equal Pay Act counts them as equal work. If two individuals perform equal work, then it is illegal for one to receive less pay than the other. Payment includes all forms of compensation, such as salary, overtime pay, bonuses, stock options, profit sharing and other benefits.