Are You Subject to Equal Pay Laws?

If you are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), you are also subject to Equal Pay Act requirements (i.e., you must pay men and women the same where they have the same job duties and qualifications). Employees who are exempt from the FLSA are not subject to equal pay requirements, except in the case of executive, administrative, and professional employees and outside salespersons.

Exempt employees. Employees who fall into one of the following categories are also exempt from equal pay requirements:

• employees of amusement or recreational establishments having seasonal peaks
• seamen on non-American vessels
• employees engaged in the fishing industry, including offshore seafood processing
• agricultural employees of an employer who did not use more than 500 man-days of agricultural labor in any quarter of the preceding calendar year
• agricultural employees who are members of the employer's immediate family
• hand-harvest laborers who are paid on a piece rate basis, commute daily from their permanent residences, and whose agricultural employment, if any, during the preceding calendar year was for less than 13 weeks
• hand-harvest laborers under 17 years of age who are employed at a piece rate on the same farm as their parents
• workers principally engaged in the range production of livestock, such as shepherds
• employees of certain weekly, semiweekly, or daily newspapers
• switchboard operators employed by certain independently owned public telephone companies
• employees who are casual babysitters or companions to ill or aged persons unable to care for themselves

If you're subject to the Equal Pay Act. If you determine that you as an employer and/or your employees are covered under the Equal Pay Act, your next move should be to examine your current pay structure and make sure that there are no potential violations.