Law Commons^™

Beyond The Glass Ceiling: Panes Of Equity Partnership, Rachel Arnow-Richman

FIU Law Review

This Article, prepared for a “micro-symposium” on Professor Kerri Stone’s monograph Panes of the Glass Ceiling (2022), explores the partnership pay gap in large law firms and the role of high-profile litigation in facilitating pay equity. There is a rich literature and extensive data on the gender attainment gap in elite law firms, particularly with regard to women’s attrition from practice and poor representation within the partnership ranks. Less attention has been paid to the way in which the exceptional women who achieve equity partner status continue to lag behind their male peers. This Article explores “Women v. BigLaw,” a …

Challenges In Bringing Gender Equity Into The Workplace: Addressing Common Concerns Women Have When Deciding To Hold Employers Accountable For Gender Discrimination, Siobhan Klassen

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

The Gender Pay Gap, In Relation To Professional Sports, Bryan Ramdat

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Money Talks: Using Prior Salary As An Affirmative Defense In Equal Pay Claims, Mariah Savage

Utah Law Review

The wage gap is alive and well, with women on average making 82 cents for every dollar a man makes. Moreover, the wage gap has stagnated, with no significant progress being made to close the gap for the past ten years. In light of this stagnation, it is important to review current practices and consider steps that could be taken in order to catalyze a modern effort at closing the wage gap. One commonplace business practice that should be addressed is an employer’s use of an employee’s prior salary to determine starting pay. Courts are divided as to whether employers …

Salary History And The Equal Pay Act: An Argument For The Adoption Of “Reckless Discrimination” As A Theory Of Liability, Kate Vandenberg

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

The Equal Pay Act (EPA) purports to prohibit employers from paying female employees less than male employees with similar qualifications; however, the affirmative defenses provided in the EPA are loopholes that perpetuate the gender pay gap. In particular, the fourth affirmative defense allows for wage differentials based on a “factor other than sex.” Many federal circuits have read this defense broadly to include wage differentials based on salary history. That is, an employer can pay a female employee less than her male counterparts because she was paid less by her previous employer. While salary history was once viewed as an …

The Statutory Public Interest In Closing The Pay Gap, Stephanie Bornstein

Stephanie Bornstein

This Essay explores the role that the statutory public interest should play in the enforcement of rights under the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA). Current data shows that, even fifty-five years after the enactment of federal law outlawing sex based pay discrimination, the gender pay gap inflicts huge costs on women, their families, and the U.S. economy, echoing the public concerns that led to the statute’s original passage. That Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) and EPA rights cannot be waived by an employee calls into question two common employer pay-setting practices often excused under federal law: setting …

But, Men And Women Are Equally Compensated, Right? An Examination Of Why An Equal Rights Amendment In New York's Constitution Will End The Wage Gap, Amanda B. Slutsky

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

This Note proposes an ERA for New York’s constitution to end the wage gap between men and women, and uses language from H.J. Res 52 and S.B. No. 1919. To demonstrate why New York needs the amendment, this Note will discuss Maryland’s and California’s ERAs and equal pay laws to establish the benefits of an ERA and how both ERAs and equal pay laws, together, help shrink the wage gap in those states. With an ERA, New York’s courts will analyze sex-based discrimination claims with strict scrutiny, which provides heightened protection because women will be considered a suspect class. …

The Statutory Public Interest In Closing The Pay Gap, Stephanie Bornstein

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Essay explores the role that the statutory public interest should play in the enforcement of rights under the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA). Current data shows that, even fifty-five years after the enactment of federal law outlawing sex based pay discrimination, the gender pay gap inflicts huge costs on women, their families, and the U.S. economy, echoing the public concerns that led to the statute’s original passage. That Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) and EPA rights cannot be waived by an employee calls into question two common employer pay-setting practices often excused under federal law: setting …

Equal Work, Stephanie Bornstein

UF Law Faculty Publications

Most Americans have heard of the gender pay gap and the statistic that, today, women earn on average eighty cents to every dollar men earn. Far less discussed, there is an even greater racial pay gap. Black and Latino men average only seventy-one cents to the dollar of white men. Compounding these gaps is the “polluting” impact of status characteristics on pay: as women and racial minorities enter occupations formerly dominated by white men, the pay for those occupations goes down. Improvement in the gender pay gap has been stalled for nearly two decades; the racial pay gap is actually …

The Unenforced Promise Of Equal Pay Acts: A National Problem And Possible Solution From Maine, Elizabeth J. Wyman Esq.

Maine Law Review

Equal pay for women is a concept that has been around for a long time. It was during World War I that women were first guaranteed pay equity in the form of regulations enforced by the War Labor Board of 1918. The Board's equal pay policy required manufacturers, who put women on the payroll while male employees were serving in the military, to pay those women the same wages that were paid to the men. The National War Labor Board continued that trend through World War II. Shortly after the war, states began enacting statutes that required employers to pay …

The Hidden Gender Of Law, Christine Boyle

Dalhousie Law Journal

Two legal academics who set out to produce a book of materials with such a title could weave many components into it. They could explore feminist methodology, and show how much feminist legal scholarship has in common with feminist scholarship generally. They could illustrate the influence of feminist academic work on actual legal decisions and legislation. They could discuss feminist scholarship and legal education, including the dramatic developments over the last twenty years. Questions about fundamental values - equality, liberty, security, fairness - could be addressed. Materials could be included from the field of law often called Women and the …