ACCORDING to the National Equal Pay Task Force, for every $1 that men earn, women earn only $0.79. This is true for nearly all industries and for most women in any pay grade. Even when female employees are making a lot of money, they are still not making as much as their male counterparts. Consider the following story:
Lynne Coates has been licensed to practice law in California since 1992. In April 2011, Coates began working as a full-time attorney employee for Farmers Group, Inc. Coates was paid a starting salary of $90,000 and was assigned to a team of attorneys who handle high risk cases. As part of this team, Coates shared similar tasks with Andy Lauderdale, who handled the same responsibilities as Coates. Throughout the time Coates worked at Farmers, she consistently received excellent performance reviews. In April 2014, Coates’ salary was increased to $99,634.08.
In early May, 2014, Coates learned that there were male attorneys in the office with less experience who were receiving higher compensation than female attorneys with more experience. Coates also discovered that a newly licensed and newly hired female attorney was being paid $68,000 compared with a newly licensed newly hired male counterpart who was paid $85,000. Coates further observed that certain female attorneys were not being promoted or given raises at the same rate as their counterpart male attorneys. Lastly, Coates learned that her male counterpart, Lauderdale, who was licensed in 1993, one year after Coates, was earning between $150,000-$200,000, compared to her salary of $99,634.08. Lauderdale and Coates were both substantially doing the same work, but with very unequal pay.
Coates complained to her supervising attorney, Scott Stratman, about this unfairness in pay, and asked him to “make it right.” Stratman told her that he would look into it. However, a few days after her complaint, Coates began to be stripped of the duties she had been performing for years. She was, in effect, demoted from her attorney position to that of a paralegal in retaliation for complaining about unfair pay. Because she had been stripped of her attorney duties, Coates had no choice but to tender her resignation.
Coates sued Farmers in a gender discrimination class action on behalf of herself and other female attorneys. Coates accused Farmers of implementing policies and practices that underpaid, under-promoted, or terminated them because of their gender.
A year after the lawsuit started, Farmers agreed to settle the case and pay about $4 million to about 300 in-house female lawyers plus $1.8 million of the class members’ attorneys’ fees and litigation costs. Farmers also agreed to make employee wages more transparent, to conduct an annual statistical analysis to ensure that pay practices are not discriminatory to female employees, and to increase the number of women promoted to top salary grades over the next three years,
The California Fair Pay Act, enacted in October 2015, prohibits employers from paying employees less than those of the opposite sex for “substantially similar work,” even if their titles are different or they work at different sites. This means the lower paid employee does not have to prove that the higher paid employee of the opposite sex has exactly the same job as she (or he) does. If differences in wages exist, the difference must be legally justified based on one or more of the following factors:
a) A seniority system
b) A merit system
c) A system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production
d) A bona fide factor other than sex, such as education, training, or experience.
Discriminated employees who successfully prove their claims may be entitled to the balance of the wages, including interest, and an equal amount as liquidated damages, together with the costs of the suit and reasonable attorney’s fees. Even if the employee has agreed to work for a lesser wage, this does not affect a pay discrimination claim.
Finally, an employer cannot prohibit employees from discussing their wages with each other, or inquiring about another employee’s wages, or aiding or encouraging any other employee to exercise their legal rights. An employee who has been discharged, discriminated or retaliated against, for doing any of the above is entitled to additional damages.
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The Law Offices of C. Joe Sayas, Jr. welcomes inquiries about this topic. All inquiries are confidential and at no-cost. You can contact the office at (818) 291-0088 or visit www.joesayaslaw.com.
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C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is an experienced trial attorney who has successfully obtained significant recoveries for thousands of employees and consumers. He is named Top Labor & Employment Attorney in California by the Daily Journal, consistently selected as Super Lawyer by the Los Angeles Magazine, and is a member of the Million Dollar-Advocates Forum.