Last week, two former employees of Nike filed a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination by Nike. The women are seeking class action status for their lawsuit, which claims that Nike violated the federal Equal Pay Act and related Oregon state laws.
The plaintiffs say that Nike hired women at lower salaries than men, discriminated against women during performance reviews and promoted male employees more often than their female counterparts. In its opening paragraphs, the complaint summarizes the problem like this:
At Nike, the numbers tell a story of a company where women are devalued and demeaned. For many women at Nike, the company hierarchy is an unclimbable pyramid-the more senior the job title, the smaller the percentage of women. The inequity for women at Nike starts before they do, with decisions about starting pay.
But the story is not just about numbers. Women’s career trajectories are blunted because they are marginalized and passed over for promotions. Nike judges women more harshly than men, which means lower salaries, smaller bonuses, and fewer stock options. Women’s complaints to human resources about discrimination and harassment, including sexual assault, are ignored or mishandled. Male bad behavior is rarely penalized. For a woman to succeed at Nike, she must far outshine her male counterparts.
To establish a violation of the federal Equal Pay Act, which applies to nearly all workplaces, a person must prove that she (or he) and an employee of the opposite sex are working in the same place, doing equal work, and receiving unequal pay.
The employer may, however, defeat a claim by proving that there is a legitimate reason for the wage disparity, for example, the employee earning more money has more seniority, is more productive or has more experience.
A court will consider jobs to be the same where two employees are actually doing the same work, even if their job titles or job descriptions are different. Generally speaking, a court will find that two jobs are equal for the purposes of the Equal Pay Act when both of the jobs are performed under similar conditions and require the same skills, effort, and responsibility.
Note that “skill” relates only to the skills required for the job, and considers the employees’ experience, ability, education, and training.
The law doesn’t just apply to wages themselves. If employees are doing equal work, they are also entitled to equal benefits, like vacation time, bonuses, insurance and retirement plans.
Although this case involves only gender-based discrimination, a number of laws provide similar protection against employment discrimination based on other factors, such as race, religion and national origin.
Whether you are an employer or an employee, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about or need help with employment related policies including the Equal Pay Act.
