The California Equal Pay Act, which works hand-in-hand with the Equal Pay Act of 1963 to prohibit sex discrimination between men and women when it comes to pay, ensures that employers pay male and female employees the same amount of money when they perform reasonably similar jobs – but there’s a lot more to it than that.
If you believe your employer has violated your right to be paid the same amount as your counterparts are paid, you may have good reason to file a claim – and you could be entitled to compensation.
As in many cases when it comes to employment law, California’s laws offer more protection than federal laws do. The California Equal Pay Act:
The California Fair Pay Act, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2015, requires employees to be paid equally for the job they’re doing based on:
The CFPA also says that employers can’t retaliate against employees for discussing pay with each other to figure out whether they’re paid equally.
In 2016, Gov. Brown amended the California Equal Pay Act to include race and ethnicity as protected categories. (This is where the California Equal Pay Act provides broader protection than federal law does.) Another amendment to the Act prohibits employers from justifying pay differences based only on the grounds of prior salary.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibits employers from discriminating between employees on the basis of sex by paying them different wages for equal work. This applies when employees have jobs that require “equal skill, effort and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions.” There are a few reasons that employers can pay men and women differently, though, including when the payment or salary is based on:
A Word on Substantially Similar Work
The term substantially similar work means work that requires employees to have similar skill levels, put in about the same amount of effort, and calls for roughly the same amount of responsibility under similar working conditions.
You only have 2 years from the date of the violation to file a claim, though, which means you don’t have much time. (If the violation was willful, you have 3 years to file). The good news: Every paycheck that reflects unequal pay counts as a violation and extends your time to file a claim.
You may be able to recover the differences in wages, interest and an equal amount as liquidated damages. Liquidated damages is an amount of compensation some people are entitled to receive.
In some cases, you can also recover your attorney’s fees and costs.
Some employers prohibit employees from discussing their wages with each other – it’s known as wage secrecy – but that’s against the law. Employers cannot stop employees from discussing their wages in any way, even through an employment contract or a non-disclosure agreement.
If you suspect that your employer has violated your rights under the California Equal Pay Act, call us for guidance at 818-230-8380 for a free case review. If you’re entitled to compensation and you’re within the right timeframe to make a claim, we can help you.
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