The Equal Pay Act of 1963

Passed as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President Kennedy in order to combat the apparent wage gap between men and women. The law serves as an official denouncement of sexual discrimination on the part of the federal government, and requires companies to follow certain ethical guidelines of pay in order to prevent pay scale abuses.

To learn more about your legal options in the event of wage discrimination, contact the Houston employment attorneys of the Ross Law Group today at 713-482-6910.

Effects of the Equal Pay Act

Under the Equal Pay Act, it is illegal to pay a worker less than another worker, despite performing the same amount of work, illustrating the same amount of skill, and handling the same amount of responsibility. As the basics of wage-earning are not the same in each industry, the law does provide for a limited number of situations in which employers are permitted to pay one worker less than another despite the same job description. These exemptions include pay based on:

• A merit system
• Seniority scales
• Quotas or similar production standard-based systems

Although the law was first introduced to fight problems with sex discrimination at lower levels of employment, this law was eventually used to help counter abuses in executive pay scales and in white-collar positions.

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It is illegal to discriminate in wage payment because of a person’s gender. However, estimates still rank paychecks of female workers lower than their male counterparts, meaning discrimination remains an active part of some employer’s business practices. If you believe your employer has illegally discriminated against you, contact the Houston employment lawyers of the Ross Law Group by calling 713-482-6910 today for a free consultation.