NT Lakis lawyers have filed a “friend-of-the-court” brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in an important case arising under the federal Equal Pay Act (EPA). The appeals court will decide whether the Act requires employers to ensure that all women and all men performing the same job in the same establishment receive the same compensation – even where pay differentials can be justified based on application of facially nondiscriminatory compensation policies and procedures.
Our brief in Cooper v. United Airlines, No. 15-15623 (9th Cir. brief filed Feb. 1, 2016), joined by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), stresses that the EPA bars employers from paying men and women in the same job different wages because of sex only, and expressly permits wage differentials that are the result of non-sex factors. We further contend that the fact that such disparities may continue over time does not give rise to an EPA violation.
Indeed, we point out that ensuring nondiscrimination in compensation is not the same as ensuring all employees are paid the same, noting in particular that making the sort of sex-based decisions that would be required to equalize employee pay could actually open employers up to liability under federal EEO laws.