The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights (DCR) has released a 25-page guidance explaining its enforcement policies with respect to the state’s equal pay law. The guidance provides much-needed direction to companies navigating the pitfalls associated with compensation systems and policies. The guidance addresses questions ranging from multistate employees to affirmative defenses to the role of employer self-evaluations in the agency process. Please find the rest of this article on the Jackson Lewis publications page…

Prior pay, alone or in combination with other factors, is not a job-related “factor other than sex” that can be used to justify a difference in pay under the Equal Pay Act (EPA), a majority of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has held again. Rizo v. Yovino, No. 16-15372 (Feb. 27, 2020). The Court previously reached this conclusion in 2018. On appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme…

It seems the end has finally come for at least one part of the pay data reporting story.  On Monday, February 10, Judge Chutkan ordered the EEO-1 Component 2 pay data reporting portal closed.  The closing of the portal signals the end of the required collection of pay data for 2017 and 2018 from eligible employers. The direction for the next turn in the story hinges on what EEOC decides to do about collecting pay…

EEOC has filed another Motion with the court seeking an Order deeming Component 2 pay data collection complete.  In its most recent filing, EEOC requests the Court to revisit its previous decision and deem the collection obligation satisfied or, in the alternative, provide clarification “regarding the response rate at which the Court will deem the EEOC’s collection to be complete.”  As a reminder, EEOC’s previous motion requesting the permission to close the portal was denied. Please…

A federal jury in Iowa has rejected Equal Pay Act claims by a female physician alleging she was paid less than her male colleagues in the same network for performing substantially equal work under the same compensation formula. Bertroche v. Mercy Physician Assoc., Inc., No. 1:18-cv-00059 (N.D. Iowa Nov. 13, 2019). The jury also found the physician network that employed her did not breach her employment agreement. After a six-day trial, the federal jury deliberated…

Following the most recent Court Order, EEOC has provided the court with a current update as to its compliance with the Court’s Order that it continue to keep the EEO-1 Component 2 pay data reporting portal open.  The Court has ordered the portal remain open until at least January 31, 2020 to allow additional filers to submit their reports. In its report EEOC detailed the efforts made to contact companies that have not yet completed their…

Despite its request to close the pay data reporting portal, Judge Chutkan has ordered EEOC to continue to keep the EEO-1 Component 2 Pay Data Reporting Portal open to allow more filers to submit their pay data.  The Order states, despite the acknowledged expense, that EEOC “must continue to take all steps necessary to complete the EEO-1 Component 2 data collection for calendar years 2017 and 2018 by January 31, 2020.” Please find the rest of…