Today’s New York Times has a good article about Bank of New York Mellon’s favorable jury verdict yesterday in a gender discrimination and Equal Pay Act case in Manhattan federal
Continue Reading Rare Jury Trial In Gender Discrimination Case Results in Verdict For BONY
“Gender Wage Gap” Will Not Close Until 2057
This astounding figure was just reported by The Institute for Women’s Policy Research using 2011 government census data.
Other organizations have similarly reported on the gender wage gap — the difference in
Continue Reading “Gender Wage Gap” Will Not Close Until 2057
EEOC Regional Attorneys Speak On the EEOC’s Future Targets
Two EEOC regional attorneys, panelists at a Practising Law Institute conference last week, discussed a number of issues which should be of concern to employers regarding the EEOC’s future plans
Continue Reading EEOC Regional Attorneys Speak On the EEOC’s Future Targets
November Brings an Election and New Discrimination Posting Requirements for New Jersey Employers
Just in time to celebrate or commiserate the election of a new president depending on your politics, as of November 21, 2012, New Jersey employers will be required to have
Continue Reading November Brings an Election and New Discrimination Posting Requirements for New Jersey Employers
Equal Pay Act Claim Sent to a Jury Trial Because Employer Did Not Prove that Factors Other Than Sex Accounted for Pay Differentials
Just days after we posted that the gender pay gap has narrowed, the Seventh Circuit issued a decision in King v. Acosta Sales & Mktg. Inc. reversing a previous
The Gender Pay Gap Has Narrowed: Will this Mean Employers Will See Less Equal Pay Act Claims?
The answer to the above is, like most lawyerly answers, not necessarily. (Not necessarily is a variant on the other popular lawyer answer — it depends).
The Institute for
Proposed Federal Legislation Would Require Companies to Publicly Disclose Pay of Women and Minorities
A bill quietly introduced in Congress could result in a big bang to publicly traded companies.
On January 18, 2012, Rep. Meeks (D-NY) introduced a bill to amend the Securities Exchange Act. Interestingly, the bill has nothing to do with what you might think given the financial meltdown of the last few years. Instead, H.R. 3791, would amend the Securities Exchange Act to require publicly traded companies to include information in their annual 10K regarding the compensation of minorities and women.
If passed, companies who must file annual 10K reports would need to review compensation information for all employees and create 5 brackets of compensation that range from the lowest paid 20% of employees to the highest paid 20% of employees. The bill would then require companies to report the number of minorities and women that fall in each bracket.
In addition to creating new reporting requirements, the bill would also provide information not generally available to employees. The goal of the legislation is to identify companies that have a "glass ceiling" as far as women and minorities are concerned. The hope is that the public would avoid companies that do not adequately reward women and minorities and thus compel those companies to change inequitable pay practices.
Obviously, this also means that there might be an increase in claims under the Equal Pay Act or other anti-discrimination laws as more employees may have statistical evidence of discriminatory practices. If the bill does become law, then companies subject to it should be proactive about reviewing compensation scales and addressing discrepancies.
(photo courtesy of borman818 via Flickr)
The Paycheck Fairness Act May Be Resuscitated
Last June, we advised that the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would amend the Equal Pay Act, had fallen by the wayside. On April 12, 2011, the Act was
Continue Reading The Paycheck Fairness Act May Be Resuscitated
“The Boss’s Daughter”
Apropos to our entry of March 1st, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday on a study in Denmark (in a short column entitled "The Boss’s Daughter"), that the gender wage gap
New Statistics: Still a Gender Gap in Employment Despite Educational Advances By Women
A White House report cited in today’s Wall Street Journal shows that despite graduating high school at a higher rate than men, and despite earning far more college degrees than men, women in the