An employee’s duties can be more important that her job title when it comes to equal pay claims, a recent settlement agreement illustrates.
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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced September 7 that a school district in Minnesota has entered into a conciliation agreement with the commission to resolve a custodian’s equal pay charge. The school agreed to pay her $50,000 to settle the claims.
After conducting an investigation, the EEOC said it determined that the Montevideo School District failed to pay a female custodial aid wages equal to that of a custodian, a position held by her male coworker, even though the two performed job duties that were the same as or equivalent in skill, effort, and responsibility.
The aid position was paid on an hourly basis and, overall, barely half as much as the salaried custodian position, according to EEOC. Because the positions performed the same work, the female employee’s lower pay violated the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the commission alleged.
To resolve the allegations, the employer agreed to pay the employee $50,000, reclassify her as a custodian and adjust her pay accordingly. The school district also must provide employees with annual anti-discrimination training and report any wage discrimination allegations to the EEOC.
Julie Schmid, acting director of the commission’s Minneapolis area office, said in a statement that “EEOC is committed to full enforcement of Title VII and the Equal Pay Act to ensure that women are paid equally for their work in the same jobs as men.”