Meagen Burrows, guest columnist for The Journal Record, understands that setting an employee’s salary can be a challenge. But she warns against inadvertently setting oneself up for a claim of wage discrimination in violation of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) if pay history data is used. She states that, “even if pay history is in fact the reason for a wage differential between male and female employees, in a growing number of states and circuits, it may not be a permissible reason.” One case example is Rizo v. Yovino, No. 18-272, 2019 WL 886486 (U.S. Feb. 25, 2019), in which the court found that prior salary alone or in combination with other factors cannot justify a wage differential.
