Equal Pay Act Case Study

In order to apply the Equal Pay Act there are four criteria that need to be met. They are; Equal Skill, Equal Effort, Equal Responsibility, and Similar Working Conditions. According to the article titled An Analysis of the Equal Pay Act, “Equal Skill constitutes the performance requirement of the jobs under consideration, not the skills which are unnecessary for the job but which an employee might possess.” Examples of the skills that are under consideration are experience, training, education, and ability. Equal Effort is the amount of physical or mental exertion that is needed to achieve a certain job. In the event of needing to exert a little extra effort here and there, does not constitute a difference in equality. Equal Responsibility
Of course they are only allowed if they are enforced equally on both sexes. That would be when the wage differences aren’t based on sex, but on other factors like seniority, a merit system, shift differentials, incentive payments, production bonuses, performance, and longevity raises. (C. Burns & J. Burns, 1973)
EXAMPLE CASE
In the case of Joseph Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Incorporated, they look into whether or not sexual harassment of the same sex is actionable under Title VII.
Oncale was employed by Sundowner Offshore Services on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. He worked with 7 other men with Lyons and Pippen as the supervisors of the crew. In October 1991, Oncale had been forcibly subjected to sexual harassment by Lyons, Pippen, and Johnson (another crew worker) in front of the others in the crew. Lyons had threatened Oncale with rape, and Pippen and Lyons had physically assaulted him in a sexual manner. When Oncale would try to report this to supervisory personnel, the company’s Safety Compliance Clerk, Hohen, revealed that Lyons and Pippen “picked [on] him all the time too.” Once Oncale filed a complaint against the company, he was told that he has no action under Title VII for harassment from male
Discrimination in the workplace doesn’t just affect those who are being discriminated, it also affects the employer/ business. Assuming that the employer wants to be as successful as possible, they will need to be efficient. In order to be efficient you need to have good and reliable employees. This is when it comes down to the hiring process and whether or not you hire based on looks or actual talent (equally). Just because you hire someone who is physically attractive, doesn’t mean they will be good workers and have beneficial effects on your business. Appearance doesn’t mean everything and that is why we have these laws such as Title VII and the Equal Pay Act to protect those who are actually talented, but may not have the right/ best looks to show for it. By overlooking the less desirable looking candidates, you could potentially be missing out on the businesses’ potential profits. That’s not to say though that people who are physically attractive aren’t valuable workers. If physical attractiveness is the only thing you look for, you have less likely of a chance of hiring someone who could be doing positive things for your business, and sooner or later these actions could come back to bite your business in the butt. (S. Friedricks,