Women have fought to earn equal pay to men for many decades. They’ve made some great gains since the Equal Pay Act (EPA) was enacted in 1963. However, there is still a major pay gap between men and women. Each year, Equal Pay Day is observed on April 2 to symbolize how far into the current year that women have to work to earn what men earned in the previous year. Indeed, most women still only earn 79% of the income that their male counterparts earn. If you’re suffering gender discrimination, you should contact our Atlanta employment dispute lawyers.
Call us today at (404) 939-9470. Or, fill-out our online contact form to schedule a free case review with an Atlanta gender discrimination lawyer.
What Laws Prohibit Gender Discrimination?
The Equal Pay Act (EPA) prohibits employers from paying women less than their male counterparts.
Unfortunately, there are some exceptions to the EPA that enable gender discrimination. For instance, employers can pay women less than their male counterparts when payment is made pursuant to:
- a seniority system;
- a merit system;
- a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production;
- a differential based on any factor other than sex
Nonetheless, women have achieved some great victories through the EPA. For instance, in 2010 drugmaker Novartis settled a class action gender discrimination case for $175 million dollars.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act also prohibits gender discrimination. Specifically, an employer may not treat anyone differently, or less favorably, because of their sex, which is defined to include pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Gender Pay Transparency
Some EPA critics contend that any attempt to address the gender pay gap is futile. For instance, Google’s internal pay audit recently revealed that it was paying its female employees more than their male counterparts in their effort to address wage inequality.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has enacted an alternative approach to address wage inequality – pay disclosure requirements. Companies with 100 or more employees now must report salary data to the EEOC. Additionally, that data will be sorted by race, gender, and job title. That rule is a fairer way to ensure that all genders are paid equal wages for the same work.
Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers Can Help
If your employer denies you equal wages for equal work, we urge you to contact Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers. Our Atlanta gender discrimination lawyers have successfully fought for the rights of American women for more than 35 years. We’ll help you recover the following damages:
- Lost pay and benefits: we can help you recover wages, salary, or benefits.
- Lost front pay: some employers blacklist employees that complaint about gender discrimination. If so, you may recover front pay. Front pay covers your wages, salary or benefits while you apply for new employment.
- Liquidated damages: gender-based wage discrimination victims may recover liquidated damages. Liquidated damages are equal to the amount of back pay and front pay.
- Attorneys’ fees and costs are usually recoverable.
Call us today at (404) 939-9470. Or, fill-out our online contact form to schedule a free case review with an Atlanta gender discrimination lawyer.
