procedural guides

California’s Fair Pay Act Goes Into Effect January 1st

The future is bright for working women in California in 2016 as the gender wage disparity issue will now be evaluated in terms of “substantially similar work” as opposed to “equal.”

Effective January 1, 2015, the “new Fair Pay Act” (an amended version of California’s Fair Pay Act) makes it easier for plaintiffs to prove they have been subjected to gender discrimination pay practices.

Governor Brown has referred to the amendment, a result of his efforts, as the “strongest equal pay law in the nation.”

Additionally, the law increases the burden of proof for employers to put forth actual evidence of a reason other than gender to explain a pay discrepancy.

And there is more – the new Fair Pay law extends beyond the Federal Equal Pay Act (29 USC§ 206(d)) as it enables plaintiffs to address gender based pay discrepancy for employees in other work locations under the umbrella of the same employer.

 

More information can be found here.