California Fair Pay Act

The following discussion concerns the California Fair Pay Act, and how to apply it.  If you are unfamiliar with the Act, you may wish to begin by reading this blog.

I get calls from employers asking: “When I group my employees by substantial similarity of work, how do I know that I am doing it correctly?”  These employers fear that someone – a Court, a plaintiff, or an employee – will come along and challenge the employer’s determination of who among its employees are engaged in “substantially similar” work.

The statute affirmatively requires employers to engage in that grouping.  Unlike earlier equal pay act legislation, California’s Fair Pay Act puts the burden of proving compliance with the statute on the employer.  Many employers are understandably concerned that their categorization of employees into groups of “substantial similarity” will be subject to criticism and attack.

The statutory language itself provides some relief to this anxiety.  The section says:
Continue Reading California Fair Pay Act Confusion – Understanding California Labor Code Section 1197.5

Since the passage of the California Fair Pay act in late 2015 (effective January 1, 2016) and its recent amendments, many employers and commentators have criticized the statute for imposing a vague and dangerous standard on California employers.

The California Fair Pay Act replaces the former “equal work” standard of the Equal Pay Act with

Equal pay claims just got a lotLucas Clary 02_web tougher to defend in California.  Last month, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 358, a new law which aims to curb a statewide pay disparity between men and women.  The law, dubbed the California Fair Pay Act, goes into effect on January 1, 2016 and requires immediate, affirmative assessment by most California employers. 

Overview of the California Fair Pay Act. 

Current law already requires California employers to pay men and women the same wage for performing equal work in the same establishment.  The new law broadens that requirement.  It removes the term “equal work” and replaces it with “substantially similar work.”  This means work that is substantially similar when viewed as “a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions.”  The new law also removes the “same establishment” requirement, meaning that employees can now bring equal pay claims by showing the employer paid an opposite sex employee at a different location higher wages for substantially similar work.
Continue Reading California’s New Equal Pay Laws Promise to Bring More Litigation

By:  Vida L. ThomasVida Thomas 04_final

The 2014/2015 California legislative session may go down as one of the most productive in the state’s  history, in terms of legislation passed and signed into law.  According to the Associated Press, Governor Brown signed 808 bills, and vetoed 133 others.   Lest employers worry that they were left out of the