The persistent gender pay gap is well-documented.
For example, women who work full-time, year-round, are paid an average of 84% as much as men, adding up to a difference of $10,000 per year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That gap widens for many women of color and women with disabilities.
A recently resolved equal pay lawsuit, however, alleged that the agency overseeing all state highways throughout Maryland paid at least one male employee a lower wage than his female counterparts for years.
According to the terms of recent settlement, the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOTSHA), will pay $40,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which alleged that MDOTSHA consistently paid the male plaintiff less than his female colleagues doing the same job.
Filed in January 2022, the lawsuit claimed that now-former MDOTSHA employee Robert Rager received a lower wage despite having more experience and more tenure than his female co-workers, according to the EEOC. In addition, the suit charged that Rager’s requests to be paid the same as those female co-workers, or to receive an explanation for the pay disparity, went ignored.
As the EEOC pointed out in a statement announcing the settlement, such alleged conduct violates the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibits pay discrimination between persons of the opposite sex for performing equal work. Per the settlement, Rager will receive the $40,000 in monetary relief, consisting of back pay and other damages.
The consent decree resolving the suit also forbids future pay discrimination or retaliation and requires MDOTSHA to increase the male’s salary to what a higher paid female was earning, to account for this adjustment retroactively, according to the EEOC. MDOTSHA is also required to adjust Rager’s pension, and the agency must provide training for human resources and management officials involved in compensation decisions and a notice to employees.
“Through pay disparity for performing equal work most often affects women in the workplace, the Equal Pay Act applies to males as well,” said Debra Lawrence, the EEOC’s Philadelphia-based regional attorney, in a statement. “Employers should be mindful about their pay systems and be prepared to adjust their employees’ compensation in accordance with the law.”
31 January 2024
Category
HR News Article