Free Advice Wednesday (late)

QUESTION

Under the Equal Pay Act, does someone hired on the same day, with the same responsibilities as me have to be paid the same amount?

ANSWER

Only if the reason for paying you differently is done on the basis of your gender. For purposes of other laws, any illegal discriminatory basis may apply. In general, however, there is no blanket rule.

Disclaimer: These questions are derived from questions I sometimes get, with different facts, laws, and so forth. Every situation is different, so talk to a lawyer if you have questions.

Welcome and Thank You.

There has been an unprecedented level of activity on this page this week. For those of you that are new, welcome! I thought now would be a good time to revisit my "mission statement" for this page. I started this "blawg" on July 1, 2004.

Here's what I initially set out to do:

I plan to include more than case law summaries and analysis. Law and lawsuits don't exist in a bubble. There are political and economic forces at work that shape them. To the extent I believe there is a causal nexus, those things will be covered as well. This will include at a minimum, tracking and discussions of pending bills in the legislature (and, sometimes, in Congress), and discussions of economic indicators that are relevant.

I am going to do my best to give objective, neutral commentary on these issues. This means I won't be championing issues on the side of the plaintiff's bar or the industry side. * * *

This is also not a blawg of record. Not every issue will be documented, largely because they are already so well documented.

I think I have mostly lived up to that over the last 11 months. I'd like to add some new parameters. I have not covered "traditional labor" issues, because I think those are well documented elsewhere. I had planned to cover the NHL lockout more closely than I have because it has some interesting dimensions (first and foremost, the union has a lot of wealthy members) and interesting implications. I haven't found much to add to the narrative there, though.

My niche has become the evolution and development of the labor laws of the state of California, and I hope to continue to follow that path.

Any input is appreciated and welcome!