Equal Pay Act of 1963
Equal Pay Act of 1963 The Equal Pay Act of 1963 established the requirements that women should receive equal pay for their amount of work. The history of this act was to end gender-based discrimination in labor wages. Throughout history women have been paid less than men even when employed in the same jobs. It was accepted in the U.S that men deserved to earn more money than women, even if their work was exactly the same. The mindset was that men were the heads of the households and they are the primary income producer in their families.
The purpose of this act was to end the problem of sex discrimination in the workplace. Under the act employers are not allowed to discriminate against women on the basis of their gender. In order to recover from the act a woman has to prove three things. The first one is that an employer is paying men higher than women, secondly male and female employees conduct an equal amount of work that requires substantially equal skill, effort, and responsibility. Lastly men and women performed the work under similar working conditions.
The act also established defenses for the employers. A male employee can get paid higher than a female employee by a seniority system, a merit system, a system whereby earnings are based upon the quantity and quality of production by the employees, and a differential based upon any other factor other than the sex of the employees. The act was passed in 1963 but it had many problems. The Equal Pay Act says that wages cannot be lowered for one sex in order to prevent raising pay for the other. Also some employers would change job titles and altar certain requirements just to pay men more than women.
Even though there were many problems to the act and many employers were beating the system, through out the past few decades women wages have been getting more equal to men wages. Some interesting facts about this act is that workers in agriculture, hotels, motels, restaurants, and laundries, are excluded
The purpose of this act was to end the problem of sex discrimination in the workplace. Under the act employers are not allowed to discriminate against women on the basis of their gender. In order to recover from the act a woman has to prove three things. The first one is that an employer is paying men higher than women, secondly male and female employees conduct an equal amount of work that requires substantially equal skill, effort, and responsibility. Lastly men and women performed the work under similar working conditions.
The act also established defenses for the employers. A male employee can get paid higher than a female employee by a seniority system, a merit system, a system whereby earnings are based upon the quantity and quality of production by the employees, and a differential based upon any other factor other than the sex of the employees. The act was passed in 1963 but it had many problems. The Equal Pay Act says that wages cannot be lowered for one sex in order to prevent raising pay for the other. Also some employers would change job titles and altar certain requirements just to pay men more than women.
Even though there were many problems to the act and many employers were beating the system, through out the past few decades women wages have been getting more equal to men wages. Some interesting facts about this act is that workers in agriculture, hotels, motels, restaurants, and laundries, are excluded