California has enacted a new law – the Fair Pay Act – that amends the state’s existing Equal Pay Act to make it easier for claimants to bring pay discrimination claims.
The new law now requires equal pay for “substantially similar” rather than “equal” work. It also removes the limitation that cohorts work in the same establishment, places the burden on the employer to prove any of the limited exceptions, adds anti-retaliation protections (including a prohibition on “pay secrecy” rules), and extends the recordkeeping period from two to three years. The law is scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2016.
According to its sponsors, the legislation was necessary because although existing state law already prohibited pay discrimination, the former statutory language made it “difficult to establish a successful claim.”
The text of the new law is available online at http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtmlbill_id=201520160SB358.