Tanner & Associates, P.C.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 provides that no employer “shall discriminate, within any establishment…between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions.” The Equal Pay Act covers employers of just two or more employees, which means that the Equal Pay Act has broader coverage than Title VII and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, which each only apply to employers with fifteen or more employees. Also unlike Title VII and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, there is no need to exhaust any administrative remedies prior to filing a lawsuit based on the Equal Pay Act. A claim under the Equal Pay Act can be brought within two years after the violation, and in some cases, three years after the violation. The central issue in many Equal Pay Act cases is whether the jobs in question are actually equal. This analysis is fact-intensive, and the attorneys at Tanner & Associates can counsel you on whether, and to what extent, you have a viable claim under the Equal Pay Act.