Ninth Circuit Reverses Course On Whether Salary History Justifies Pay Differences

Employers take note: At least within the area covered by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (including Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington), prior salary history can no longer justify a pay difference between male and female employees.  In a move that reversed the court's own previous ruling, an 11-judge panel held that a woman's salary history can never be used as a basis for paying her less.

The federal Equal Pay Act (EPA) prohibits employers from paying men and women differently, except where the difference is justified by merit, seniority, quantity or quality of work, or "any other factor other than sex." When Aileen Rizo, a public school teacher in Fresno County, California, discovered that she was being paid less than her male colleagues with the same job, she filed a lawsuit against the county for unequal pay under the EPA.  The county argued that the pay disparity was justified by Rizo's relatively low prior