Rights Under the FLSA : Equal Pay for Equal Work

Men and women who do the same job, or jobs that require equal skill and responsibility, must be compensated with equal wages and benefits under a 1963 amendment to the FLSA called the Equal Pay Act. (29 U.S.C. § 206.) Be aware, however, that some payment schemes that may look discriminatory at first glance do not actually violate the Equal Pay Act. The Act allows disparate payments to men and women if they are based on:

seniority systems

merit systems

systems measuring earnings by quantity or quality of production, such as a piece goods arrangement, or

any factor other than sex—for example, salary differentials that stem from unequal starting salaries based on differences in experience levels.

Although the Equal Pay Act basically covers the same employers and employees as the rest of the FLSA, there is one important difference: The Equal Pay Act also protects against discriminatory pay arrangements for executive, administrative, and professional employees—including administrators and teachers in elementary and secondary schools.