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Pay Equity

Overview

Pay equity issues are of increasing concern to employers and employees alike, and with good reason. The Equal Pay Act has been reinvigorated by recent political and legislative initiatives as well as social media. A number of bellwether states, including Massachusetts, California, New Jersey, Delaware, and Oregon, have enacted robust pay equality statutes, with more legislation on the horizon. Equal pay litigation is on the rise and multi-million dollar settlements of class action lawsuits are being reported on a weekly basis. Activist shareholder groups are demanding that companies conduct pay audits to ensure employees are being paid fairly and in compliance with these new laws.

In response to the recent increase in new pay equity legislation and the challenges facing employers working to understand and comply with equal pay laws, Fisher Phillips has developed a Pay Equity Interactive Map. The map allows visitors to explore the pay equity laws of states and major cities by simply clicking on each state on the map. Click on the map on this page to learn more.

The Fisher Phillips Pay Equity Practice Group works with you to help navigate the challenging demands of equal pay laws and resulting legislation. With lawyers across the country dedicated to knowing the ins and outs of the evolving state laws, we can evaluate your workforce to identify disparities, help you implement pay practices designed to comply with the increasing demands of new laws and regulations, and defend any claims of unlawful pay practices that land on your desk.

Proactive Audit
We can conduct a privileged audit of your pay practices, an indispensable first step in any compliance effort. To help you prepare for and comply with federal and state pay equality requirements we’ll undertake a careful three-step process. We’ll review your compensation policies and pay determinations to ensure your organizational decisions are properly documented. We’ll identify differences in pay across gender and other protected classifications. And we’ll ensure that you are prepared to justify any pay disparities based on legitimate factors, such as location, education, or training.

Compliance Efforts
We take a holistic approach to pay equity issues. We review policies, applications, and other critical documents to ensure compliance with new and evolving pay equity laws. We train those management level employees, human resources staff, and compliance experts responsible for determining and monitoring employee compensation. Our goal is ensuring that these key individuals have a complete understanding of pay equality and the mandates of the Equal Pay Act (EPA) and applicable state and local laws.

Defense of Legal Actions
The EPA permits employees to file time-consuming and costly unlawful pay collective actions, and we predict the number of equal pay collective actions will grow exponentially in the near future – just as wage and hour claims have done over the past several decades. Our deep bench of accomplished class and collective litigators stands ready to respond to litigation and enforcement actions in an aggressive but strategic way.

Click here to read the Pay Equity Matters Blog.