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For many of us, our job is the means to support our family, and a source of pride and achievement. Unfortunately, the gender pay gap in America still persists.  A 2020 study from the Pew Research Center determined that women earned on average 84 cents to every dollar earned by men.  For people of color and especially women of color, the gap is likely wider.

 

California is committed to closing the gender pay gap and the racial/ethnicity pay gap.  We are committed to enforcing the laws that make these goals possible.  It’s time that you are paid what your work is really worth.

 

Equal Pay is the Law

 

California’s Equal Pay Act has been the law since 1963.  It precludes employers from paying its employees less than employees of the opposite sex (or another race or ethnicity) for equal work. 

  

The California Fair Pay Act of 2015 was signed into law to further narrow the gender pay gap and continue the good fight against gender-based wage discrimination.  It amends the Equal Pay Act in the following significant ways:

 

• Narrows the bases an employer can use to justify different wages

• Allows the comparison of “substantially similar” work rather than “equal” work 

• Eliminates the requirement that the compared jobs be at the same location

• Protects the freedom of workers to discuss their wages

 

A further 2017 Amendment broadens the Equal Pay Act in a big way.  It:

 

• Adds Race and Ethnicity as protected categories 

• Precludes employers from asking for an applicant’s salary history

• Precludes employers from using an applicant’s prior salary to determine their salary

• Requires employers to provide pay scale information to applicants on request

 

Employers can only defeat an Equal Pay Act claim by proving that the difference in pay for substantially similar work is due to one or more of the following factors:

 

• A seniority system;

• A merit system;

• A system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; and/or

• A “bona fide factor” other than sex,  race or ethnicity:

  • such as education, training or experience, 

  • that is job related, and

  • consistent with business necessity.

 

The law protects you from any retaliation or negative treatment for asserting your rights under the Equal Pay Act.  Failure to provide equal compensation is one of several forms of Gender Discrimination.  Click here to learn more.