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Alden Law Group, PLLC

Washington, DC Federal Employment + Labor Attorneys

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Discrimination & Harassment

Home / Practice Areas / Discrimination & Harassment / Pay Discrimination & The Equal Pay Act

Pay Discrimination & The Equal Pay Act

One common form of discrimination is disparate pay. Pay discrimination is prohibited by the Equal Pay Act (EPA) and by the anti-discrimination statutes (e.g., Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII, Age Discrimination in Employment Act).

The Equal Pay Act commands “equal pay for equal work” and applies only to sex-based disparate pay; it does not protect from any other kind of pay discrimination.

Under the EPA, an employer may not discriminate by paying different wages to men and women for equal work, which requires equal skill, effort and responsibility, and which is performed under similar working conditions. The requirement of “equal work” does not mean that the jobs must be identical, but the positions must be closely related or very much alike. Likewise, working conditions do not have not be equal, but they must be similar.

To prove an EPA claim, the employee is not required to show that the wage disparity is sex-based – typically it is enough to show that men and women are not paid the same. The employee also does not need to draw comparisons to all comparable employees of the opposite sex – one can be enough.

After an employee presents evidence of wage disparity, the employer can avoid liability under the EPA if it can show that the wage disparity was based on a seniority system, a merit system, an incentive system, or a differential based on a factor other than sex, including a gender-neutral legitimate business reason.

The other anti-discrimination statutes also prohibit wage-based discrimination, but the application of the law is slightly different and the prohibition applies to the remaining protected classes of employees – race, national origin, religion, disability, age, and sex.

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1850 M Street, NW
Suite 901
Washington. DC 20036

(855) 463-0300
(202) 463-0300
(855) 463-0301 (fax)
(202) 463-0301 (fax)

Our Team

  • Kristin D. Alden
  • Michelle F. Bercovici
  • Wynter P. Allen
  • James Eisenmann
  • Ross E. Fishbein
  • Dominick Schumacher
  • Philip A. Mueller

Practice Areas

  • Employment Contracts
    • Executive Employment Agreements
    • Non-Compete Agreements
    • Non-Solicitation Agreements
    • Separation Agreements
  • Employees’ Workplace Obligations
    • Trade Secrets, Duty of Loyalty
  • Discrimination & Harassment
    • Sex
    • LGBTQ + Gender Identity
    • Family Responsibility
    • National Origin
    • Religion
    • Disability and Requests for Accommodations
    • HIV Status
    • Age Discrimination
    • Hostile work environment & Harassment
    • Pay Discrimination, Equal Pay Act
    • Pregnancy & Breastfeeding
    • Retaliation
  • Federal Employees
    • Congressional Accountability Act
    • Discrimination in Federal Sector
    • Discipline and Other Adverse Actions in Federal Sector
    • Foreign Service Officers
    • Government Ethics
    • Agency Internal Grievance Systems
    • Intelligence Community
    • Federal Sector Labor Unions
    • Law Enforcement in Federal Sector
    • Inspector General and OPR Investigations
    • Union Grievances in Federal Sector
    • VERA/VSIP
    • Whistleblowing in Federal Sector
  • Security Clearances
  • D.C. Employees
    • Office of Employee Appeals
    • D.C. Employees Discrimination Complaints
    • Union Grievance Processes
    • D.C. Government Whistleblowing Rights
  • Leaves of Absences
    • Family Medical Leave Act
    • Uniformed Service Members
    • District of Columbia Leave Laws
  • Privacy
    • Medical Inquires
    • FOIA
    • Privacy Act
    • Medical Records
  • Virginia Employees
    • Virginia State Grievance Process
    • Virginia County Grievance Process
    • Virginia State Employee Whistleblowing Rights
  • Wage & Hour
    • Federal Fair Labor Standards Act
    • Wage and Hour in D.C., Maryland and Virginia
  • Whistleblowing
    • Federal Employees
    • Sarbanes-Oxley & SEC Whistleblowing
    • Federal Government Contractors
    • Equal Employment Opportunity Retaliation
    • The Occupational Safety and Health Whistleblowers Laws
    • D.C. Government Whistleblowing Rights
    • Virginia State Employee Whistleblowing Rights
  • Wrongful Discharge
  • Human Resources & Advice for Employers
    • Employee Handbooks
    • Hiring & Firing
    • Management Investigations
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