In Rizo v. Yovino, the Ninth Circuit Court recently held that an employer cannot use an employee’s prior salary history as a ‘factor other than sex’ upon which a wage differential may be used under the Equal Pay Act. The EPA prohibits employers from paying women less for the same job unless the difference is based on merit, seniority, quantity or quality of work or the catchall “any other factor other than sex.” The court held that salary history was not a legitimate factor that was related to the job, and instead, employers should use factors such as experience, training, education or prior performance to set wages. The en banc decision was unanimous.
This decision comes amid several states banning salary history as a permissible factor upon which to base pay. According to the Department of Labor, women in the U.S. make on average 82 cents to a dollar of what men make in comparable jobs. Proponents of banning the “salary history” question claim that Continue reading
Guns-at-work laws generally limit a private employer’s ability to prohibit its employees from bringing concealed firearms to the workplace. These laws are state-specific, as there is currently no federal law that regulates weapons at private workplaces.