An Old-School Approach To Equal Pay At 9th Circ.

The Ninth Circuit issued a decision in late April holding that an employer does not violate the federal Equal Pay Act by paying men and women differently for the same work where their starting pay was determined by their salaries in their previous jobs. The court applied a decades-old precedent in reaching its decision, one that is likely to have little impact on private sector employers in California but that might be helpful to employers elsewhere in the circuit.

The Ninth Circuit's Decision

In Rizo v. Yovino (854 F.3d 1161 (9th Cir. 2017)), a female math consultant for the Fresno County public schools was paid at the lowest of 10 salary steps for her position when she was hired because her salary in her previous job was less than the lowest salary step. She later learned that a male math consultant for the school system was hired at the second-highest of the 10 salary steps, and that in fact all of the male math consultants in the school district were paid more