Equal Pay

Six Bay Area Counties Issue Revised Shelter-In-Place Orders Requiring Essential Businesses to Develop and Post Social Distancing Protocols

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On March 31, 2020, the six Bay Area counties that previously issued the nation’s first Covid-19 shelter-in-place orders, amended and extended their prior orders to include stricter controls aimed to slow the spread of COVID-19. The new orders, which are now in effect in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties (as well as the City of Berkeley) have a new end date of May 3, 2020 – a change from the prior end date of April 7, 2020. They also revise and narrow the scope of businesses deemed essential, and expressly require any employer with employees who are working on-site to develop a “Social Distancing Protocol” that must be posted in the form required by the orders. The new orders also acknowledge Governor Newsom’s statewide March 19, 2020 Executive Order N-33-20, but explain they are, “in certain respects more stringent” than the statewide order in order to address “the particular facts and circumstances” in the county and in the Bay Area. Accordingly, they explicitly state, “Where a conflict exists between this Order and any state public health order related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the most restrictive provision controls.” READ MORE →

District Court Orders Employers to Submit Component 2 Data by September 30, 2019

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The EEOC has been ordered to collect employers’ EEO-1 Component 2 pay data by September 30, 2019.  The D.C. District Court issued the order after finding back in March 2019 that Office of Management and Budget (OMB’s) decision to stay the collection of Component 2 pay data lacked the reasoned explanation required by the Administrative Procedure Act.  See our prior blog posts here, here, and here about National Women’s Law Center v. Office of Management and Budget, No. 17-cv-2458 (TSC) (D.D.C.).  Since then the court has been critical of the EEOC’s compliance with its order, and held a status conference and a hearing in March and April. READ MORE →

Tech Giants Continue To Face The Equal Pay Litigation Spotlight

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In recent years, the volume of equal pay lawsuits has continued to increase in Silicon Valley, despite technology companies reaffirming their commitment to equal pay policies and practices. Earlier this month, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (“HP”) was hit with the latest equal pay lawsuit. The class action lawsuit, filed in Santa Clara Superior Court, alleges that HP discriminated against its female workers by paying them less than their male counterparts and funneling women into certain jobs based on stereotypes. READ MORE →

California Waves Goodbye to Salary History

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On October 12, 2017, California joined a growing trend of jurisdictions attempting to address pay disparities by enacting a law that bans employers from seeking salary history information, including compensation and benefit information, from job applicants.   We have previously highlighted a similar salary history ban in New York City and have written about the concerns with employers relying upon salary history.  This includes the concern that relying upon salary history may perpetuate existing pay disparities. READ MORE →

School’s Out! Ninth Circuit Holds Prior Salary of Teachers Can Justify Pay Differentials

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As schools across the country prepare for summer break, the Ninth Circuit overturned a lower court decision against the Fresno County public school district which had found that its pay practices were unlawful. Notably, the Ninth Circuit held that an employer may rely on prior salary as an affirmative defense to claims under the federal Equal Pay Act (“EPA”) if “it show[s] that the factor ‘effectuate[s] some business policy’ and that the employer ‘use[s] the factor reasonably in light of the employer’s stated purpose as well as other practices.’” READ MORE →

Salary History Becomes a Thing of the Past in New York City

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On April 5, 2017, the New York City Council passed an amendment to the New York City Human Rights Law prohibiting employers or their agents from inquiring about the salary history of an applicant.  The law also restricts an employer’s ability to rely upon that salary history in determining the salary, benefits or other compensation during the hiring process “including the negotiation of a contract.” The term “salary history” is defined to include current or prior wages, benefits or other compensation, but does not include “objective measures of the applicant’s productivity such as revenue, sales or other production reports.”

There are several notable exceptions to the law.  READ MORE →

New Restrictions for Temporary Agency Work in Germany in 2017

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On October 21, 2016, the German Parliament adopted the draft law regarding the reform of the German Act on Temporary Agency Work (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz – AÜG). The reform will come into force as planned on April 1, 2017 and will bring material changes for both, agencies and their customers, the host businesses.

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California Legislators Aim to Make Prior Salaries a Thing of the Past

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A few months ago, the California State Assembly introduced AB 1676, a bill that not only would have prohibited employers from asking job applicants about their compensation history, but also would have required employers to provide pay scale information upon reasonable request. A nearly identical bill passed through the Assembly and Senate before it was vetoed by the Governor toward the end of last year. In his veto statement, the Governor expressed concern that such a measure “broadly prohibits employers from obtaining relevant information with little evidence that [it] would assure more equitable wages.”

As we previously reported, the Fair Pay Act (the “FPA,” Labor Code § 1197.5) requires “equal pay for substantially similar work” based on the employee’s skill, effort and responsibility, and similar working conditions. To the extent a disparity exists between employees of the opposite sex, it must be reasonably based on one or more the factors enumerated within the statute.

Perhaps hoping to avoid repeating history, proponents of AB 1676 have taken a new approach. In place of the provision prohibiting inquiries about prior salary history is new language that amends the FPA to state that “[p]rior salary shall not, by itself, justify any disparity in compensation.”

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OFCCP’s New Sex Discrimination Regulations Bring Few New Requirements But Highlight Need for Contractors to Revisit Policies and Practices

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On June 14, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) unveiled its final sex discrimination guidelines governing covered federal contractors.  The OFCCP proposed changes to the rule on January 30, 2015 and the official comment period closed on April 14, 2015, following a two-week extension so that it could take comment on the Supreme Court’s pregnancy discrimination decision in Young v. United Parcel Serv., Inc.  The final rules come six months after the expected date on the fall regulatory agency but were released to coincide with the White House Council on Women and Girls first “United State of Women” summit, which was also held on Tuesday. Our coverage of that event can be found here

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Orrick Provides Testimony at EEOC hearing on Promoting Diverse and Inclusive Workplaces in the Tech Sector

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On May 18, 2016 the EEOC held a commission meeting to address the topic of promoting diverse and inclusive workplaces in the tech sector. Orrick’s Erin Connell was asked to testify at the meeting and provide examples of the types of diversity initiatives tech companies are using. Watch our blog for updates on workplace diversity and new developments in the equal pay space as they continue to unfold. Included below is the text of Erin’s testimony before the EEOC:

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