WAGE DISCRIMINATION:
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
U. S. Dept. of Labor, Women's Bureau

If you are a working woman, you may be experiencing wage discrimination. Have you ever noticed how many women work in "women's jobs" as secretaries, child care providers, bookkeepers, teachers' aides, dressmakers, launderers, cooks, and sales workers? Even though these are skilled, responsible jobs, they generally offer low wages and few advancement opportunities. Women of color are concentrated in some of the lowest paid of these jobs.

It is illegal to pay women less than men who do similar work, but full-time, full-year women workers are paid 72 cents for every dollar a man is paid. Some of this difference is caused by sex discrimination.

HAVE ANY OF THESE THINGS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU?

• You were "steered" out of better paying jobs because when you applied, the employer assumed you were interested only in "women's jobs."
  
• You were hired for a new job at a lower pay rate than a man would have received.
  
• You were blocked from consideration for promotion because your boss believed "mothers shouldn't work evenings or weekends."
  
• You returned from pregnancy or maternity leave to a lower-paying job and were afraid to file a complaint and jeopardize your future with the company.
  
• You are a woman of color and you don't see many people of color in management positions.
  
• You trained a man for a job you had been denied.
  
• Your "women's job" is paid lower than "men's jobs" that require the same amount of skill and responsibility.

These examples of different treatment based on gender or race may constitute unlawful discrimination. Thousands of women file charges of sex and/or race discrimination every year with their federal, state, or local civil rights or fair employment practices agency to get equal treatment on the job.

WHAT THE LAW SAYS

Under Title VII of the Civil Right Act, employers who have at least 15 workers are not allowed to:

1. Pay women less for work similar to that performed by men who have the same employer; or
   
2. Withhold training opportunities from women workers that are offered to men; or
   
3. Refuse to consider promoting women to higher paid managerial or professional positions; or however, about half of all women workers hold "women's jobs". This law does not protect these workers very well, because there are no men working in the same job whose wages can be compared to the women workers'.
   
4. Set lower wages for "women's jobs" than for "men's jobs" that require equal skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions, because women "will work for less" or because "the job market" allows lower wages for women.

Under the Equal Pay Act of 1963, all employers must pay equal wages to women and men for substantially equal work. This law is effective in protecting women who work in the same kinds of jobs that men do.

WHAT CAN YOU DO IF YOU'RE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST OR PAID UNFAIR WAGES?

1. Write down what happened. Write down what happened to make you think you're being discriminated against: Were you offered a lower starting salary than a man had been? Were you denied a promotion in an unequal way? Keep a record of any comments that describe women negatively, whether the comments are made to you or to others. Keep your notes in a safe place at home, not in the office.
2. Get emotional support from friends and family. It can be very upsetting to feel you have been treated unfairly at work. Take care of yourself. Think carefully about what you want to do. Get the help you need to do it.
3. Keep doing a good job and keep a record of your work. Keep copies at home of your job evaluations and any letters or memos that show that you do a good job at work. Your boss may criticize your job performance later on in order to defend his or her act of discrimination.
4. Find out how other women have been treated at your workplace. Talk to other women who may have been paid unequally. You may want to share information and think up ways to improve working conditions, including hiring, pay, benefits, promotion, work schedule and termination practices. A different law, the National Labor Relations Act, protects your right to meet together and to try to improve your working conditions. For more information on that law, contact the National Labor Relations Board, which enforces it.
5. Talk to your employer. Some companies may have specific informal ways to handle discrimination problems. A personnel or EEO/affirmative action officer should have this information available. You may decide to try to work the problem out informally or you may decide to file a complaint with an agency right away instead (see "You Have a Right to File a Charge" below). Don't let your time to file a complaint run out before you've made a decision.
6. Explain your complaints to supervisors and administrators in writing. Your company may be as eager as you are to solve the problem without going through a formal process. Some companies are trying new ways to resolve job problems, like "mediation." In mediation, you would talk over the problem with your employer and a mediator, someone both you and your employer trust. You would be able to find out whether or not the problem could be solved without filing a complaint. Check your employee handbook for procedures.
7. If you belong to a union, talk to your union steward or representative. Union rules often allow you to file a grievance, and having a union means someone will represent you and try to resolve what's happened to you. Learn what the company rules are and what your handbook says. If you don't have a union, you may want to consider joining an existing union or working with others to start one. Overall, unionized women's wages are significantly higher than those of women without a union. Being in a union would allow you to negotiate, along with other workers, for better pay, benefits and cost of living increase. And some union contracts require that you not be fired without a good reason or that you have a right to tell your side of the story with someone there to support you in presenting the facts.

   Some unions have also negotiated contracts for "equal pay for work of equal value." This means that women in "women's jobs" that require skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions equal to what's required by the same employer of "men's jobs" must be paid what the "men's jobs" pay. Some states have laws requiring this for state employees. Check with your state fair employment practices office.

   If you and at least one other worker try to improve working conditions, the National Labor Relations Act forbids your being punished by your employer for your activities. This is true whether or not your goal is to form a union.

8. You have a right to file a charge. The law has a very short time limit for filing a charge against your employer - the time limit can be as short as 180 days for filing with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

9. The EEOC is the federal agency whose job it is to protect you from discrimination based on sex, race, color, national origin, religion, age and disability. Many states and cities have similar fair employment practices agencies. In many states, a state or local agency investigates discrimination cases first and tries to work them out on the local level.

10. You can file a charge with the EEOC; a link to contact information is given under "Where To Get Help" below. If your complaint is not filed on time, the EEOC may not be able to investigate it, and you may not be able to get any help.

11. You can file a charge even of you no longer work for the same employer. If you have left your job because of how you were treated, you may be able to file a complaint about that.

YOU CAN WIN

Many women have fought discrimination and have improved their own work lives and the lives of others down through generations. The first step is to know your rights under both federal and state law. The second is to exercise them. Civil rights, equal employment opportunity, and affirmative action - all three protect your legal rights to equal treatment on the job. Full enforcement of these laws benefits all workers by creating a fair workplace.

If you do go to court about your own case, you may be able to get fair treatment for yourself and other workers. Muriel Kraszewski sued State Farm Insurance for sex discrimination after being denied a job as an agent after 12 years as an agent's assistant. Her employer refused to promote her partially because she didn't have a college degree, even though more than half of the male agents also hadn't finished college. Ms. Kraszewski fought back by filing a class action lawsuit for herself and other women working at State Farm. The women won $250 million in back pay and damages.

WORKING FOR WOMEN

The Women's Bureau, part of the U.S. Department of Labor, was created by Congress in 1920. Our job is to research and promote policies to improve working conditions for women.

The Women's Bureau informs people about the rights of working women using brochures like this one.

Please feel free to call or write us. Together we can make a better workplace for everyone.

WHERE TO GET HELP

Link to the Resources pages for:

• Women's Bureau
• EEOC

You can also contact the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) at http://www.dol.gov/nlrb.

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Women's Bureau
U.S. Department of Labor