Equal Pay for Equal Work: History, Law, and HR Policy

Introduction: Origins of the Equal Pay Movement

The concept of equal pay for equal work originated in connection with the equal rights movement of the 1960s, particularly in relation to the employment situation faced by women in the American workforce (Goldfield, Abbot, Argersinger, et al., 2005). Prior to World War II, it was relatively rare for American women to work outside the home. The tremendous need for civilian labor to support the war effort resulted in a significant increase in the number of working women, and that increase persisted, in large part, after the war ended.

However, for most of the first two decades after the war, women were not treated equally in many respects. They experienced discrimination in hiring and promotions, they endured sexual harassment — often without any conceivable recourse besides quitting their jobs — and they also earned significantly less money even for performing the exact same jobs as their male counterparts. This continued until the enactment of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (Goldfield, Abbot, Argersinger, et al., 2005; Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, et al., 2009).

Equal Rights Employment Legislation

In principle, modern federal and state employment laws require employers to compensate employees equally for equal work (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, et al., 2009). More specifically, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) mandates that employers classify employees in accordance with their vocational responsibilities and compensate them commensurate with the work they perform. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act expressly forbids discrimination in any aspect of employment and compensation based on "suspect classifications" — that is, race, color, ethnicity, and religion. The Equal Pay Act expressly prohibits any differences in employment compensation based on gender.

Generally, the Equal Pay Act refers to "substantially equal work" as measured by the nature of vocational responsibilities, the requisite skill involved, the conditions in which the work is performed, and the degrees of responsibility, authority, and accountability (Goldfield, Abbot, Argersinger, et al., 2005; Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, et al., 2009).

Permissible Grounds for Differential Compensation

While applicable employment legislation prohibits discrimination in compensation based strictly on gender, it does not necessarily require equal pay in circumstances where there are purely objective differences that justify compensation disparities (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, et al., 2009). There are, in fact, numerous factors on the basis of which compensation differences may be permissible. For example, seniority, performance reviews, experience, the achievement of specific goals or objectives, and the objective overall quality of work performed by respective employees may all be appropriate criteria for justifying unequal pay (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, et al., 2009).