The California Fair Pay Act signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown provides additional protection for equal pay in the state. California employers must offer equal pay for “substantially similar work,” though employers can offer different pay in certain situations.
Under the old California law, employers were required to provide equal pay only when employees were engaged in the same work at the same location. As amended, California now requires that employers pay male and female employees the same wage if they are engaged in “substantially similar work,” not necessarily the same work.
The law also prohibits paying workers differently on the basis of race and ethnicity.
The new law also requires equal pay even if the employees were in different locations. So a bookkeeper in one office should be paid the same as a bookkeeper in a different office.
If an employee brings an equal pay claim, then their employer might retaliate against them. Retaliation can take many forms, such as:
If an employee believes she has been the victim of retaliation for exercising her rights under the California Fair Pay Act, she can file a lawsuit in court within one year.
The California Fair Pay Act also prevents employers from prohibiting their employees from talking about wages. According to the legislature, secrecy around wages is one of the mechanisms that allows pay disparities to flourish.
Under the old law, employers could not prevent employees from talking about their wages but could keep them from talking about other employees’ wages. Under the new law, an employer cannot prohibit employees from discussing their wages, the wages of other employees, or asking about wages.
The new law still allows an employer to pay different wages if they have a valid business justification. For example, they can justify a pay discrepancy on the following grounds:
However, the business justification must explain the entire pay justification, and the employer must have reasonably relied on it. In other words, it cannot be a pretext that an employer uses to hide their true motive.
If you have concerns about equal pay or retaliation, you should schedule a consultation with a wage and hour attorney as soon as possible.
At the Workplace Rights Law Group, we have represented the rights of employees for decades. Contact us today.
Theo is a trial & appellate lawyer whose practice has emphasized wage-and-hour class actions, business disputes, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and intellectual property theft. He has tried civil cases and argued before various California Courts of Appeal.
I wanted to take a minute to thank you and your staff for all you accomplished regarding my most difficult case. I realized gender discrimination was a challenge, however, with your experience and expertise you all took my case head on and never looked back. You fought for me, my rights as a female and after everything was said and done, a. . .win for older females in a male dominated career.
Without hesitation I am giving a 5 out of 5 stars to Theo Khachaturian. It may sound like a cliché, but when I began working with Theo it felt as though for the first time someone actually listened to me and believed me. He is extremely clear, honest and most importantly very deft at mediation. Theo never filled my head with false promises, and reiterated the reality of what the pros and cons of my case were. My case was resolved in mediation, and without Theo, there wasn’t a chance I would’ve been able to get that far.
David saved my soul and believed in me. He knows the law and was my advocate every step of the way. He was highly sensitive to my stresses and always responsive to my many questions. He truly cares about his clients. David caught every discrepancy and every contradiction with the opposing counsel. His skills in mediation were phenomenal. If he believes in the merits of your case, you can be assured that nobody will work harder or more passionately than David Simpson.
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