Equal Pay Litigation: Recent EEOC Decisions, Salary History Bans, Privilege, Employment Verification, State Analogs
Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
- work Practice Area
Employment and Workers Comp
- event Date
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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This CLE course will provide employment counsel with practical advice on litigation trends in federal and state equal pay laws, which have been on the rise and are anticipated to continue to do so under the Biden administration. The panel will discuss the proposed changes to the Equal Pay Act, including expanding damages and how the potential expansion of the definition of "establishment" encourages claims.
Mr. Gagnon is a partner in the Chicago office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. A member of the Labor & Employment Department, he focuses his practice on Complex Discrimination and Wage and Hour Litigation.
Mr. O'Hara's practice focuses on employment law counseling and litigation as well as human resources counseling, compliance, and training.
Ms. Turner's litigation experience includes defending employers in wrongful discharge, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, invasion of privacy, defamation, and wage and hour suits in state and federal courts. She counsels, trains, and represents clients on a broad range of employment law issues, including hiring, review, and termination procedures; workplace investigations; discrimination, harassment, and retaliation issues; wage and hour law and FMLA issues. Ms. Turner also drafts and updates personnel policies, workplace privacy issues, employee handbooks, drug and alcohol policies, employment agreements, trade secret issues, and non-competition agreements.
Pay equity issues are of increasing concern to employers and employees alike, and proposed changes to the Equal Pay Act and the new presidential administration encourage further exploration of these claims. Several states have robust pay equity statutes, including California, New Jersey, and Delaware, and more state legislation has been proposed. Multi-million dollar settlements of class actions and public claims by diverse groups occur every week.
Shareholder groups now routinely demand that companies conduct pay audits to ensure employees are being paid fairly and in compliance with these laws and to mitigate future risk.
If amended, the Equal Pay Act may result in significant additional claims because expanding the definition of "establishment" increases the potential for damages. Further, these complicated claims require that employment counsel must prepare proper statistical models that assist in both class certifications and estimations of damages.
Listen as our expert panel discusses employers' increased risk in pay discrimination claims. The panel will address the potential changes in the Equal Pay Act and the likelihood of trends in upcoming cases related to class certification and how data is used to support claims and defend potential pay equity violations.
- History of the Equal Pay Act and the proposed amendments
- Damages
- Establishment
- State analogs
- Pay audits
- Privilege
- Use of statistical analysis
The panel will review these and other key questions:
- How have equal pay and pay discrimination laws evolved over the years, and what is the expected outcome of the current amendments proposed to the Equal Pay Act?
- How should a company and counsel conduct a pay audit?
- What statistical methods are most commonly requested by employment counsel to avoid and resolve pay equity claims?
- What best practices should employer counsel utilize when implementing proactive pay audits, selecting statistical models, and developing jury presentation strategies?
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