Equal Pay Act

By: Angel Hernandez

The Equal Pay Act is a law that abolishes the unfair amount of
income one receives on account of their sex or ethnicity, the Equal Pay Act was signed into law
on June 10, 1963 by John F. Kennedy. So the story begins right after World War II, as more
women began to enter the workforce discrimination against them would begin thereafter as
women received almost 50% lower wages than men would receive at that time. Some
workplaces would even advertise job openings that would be directed at a certain gender and
women were not welcome at most places when it came to work.

The Equal Pay Act does not only apply to salaries, but it also applies to vacations, bonuses,
holiday pay, and any other benefits. If any suspicion occurs in your work environment then you
are encouraged to file for pay discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
However, this act will not apply to those employees who are receiving higher pay due to their
seniority, production levels, and merit.

The Equal Pay Act directly affects all women equally as they are the ones that are receiving less
pay, even in modern society. Despite men receiving more income than women, men are
indirectly affected by this pay gap as well as women are affected. The highest earning of all
others are Asian males and white males, they tend to make more money than any other men of all
other ethnicities.
If you were to ever to file a lawsuit for unequal pay in your workplace, your best bet would be to
file a lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Title VII not only protects you from equal
pay, but it also includes hiring, firing, promotion, and more as I had previously mentioned. In
addition, Title VII goes far and beyond with discrimination as it also includes race, color,
religion, and national origin. However, if you were to choose to sue under the EPA (Equal Pay
Act) or Title VII go with Title VII. Although EPA would be easier to win, Title VII could
potentially win you more money and even if you do lose you can ask for compensation damages.
A good example of this scenario was in the case University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center v. Nassar, where the plaintiff accused his supervisor of discrimination against him
because he did not receive permanent employment for the medical center. Nassar then sued the
medical center under the Civil Rights Act, Title VII as a result of this accusation. Nassar lost the
case because his case did not extend to all of the Title VII provisions which included retaliation
claims.

References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Pay_Act_of_1963
http://regender.org/EqualPayAct4
http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/06/court-rules-foremployers-in-two-employment-discrimination-cases/