The California Equal Pay Act (CEPA) prohibits employers from paying unequal wages to employees of a different sex, race, or ethnicity if they do substantially similar work. The only lawful pay gaps are those that are based on non-discriminatory reasons, such as:
The purpose of CEPA is to eliminate systemic sexism- and racism-based pay differences in the workforce. You can file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner or bring a lawsuit if your employer:
Here at Shouse Law Group, we have represented countless employees who were cheated out of fair wages due to their gender or race. In our experience using CEPA, we can recover double back wages and achieve job reinstatements following a wrongful termination or demotion.
The California Equal Pay Act (CEPA) forbids public and private employers from paying you less than what they pay employees of:
for substantially similar work.
The definition of “substantially similar work” is work that is mostly the same with regard to the following three factors:
when performed under similar working conditions.
Examples of working conditions include:
In short, CEPA prohibits sex-, race-, or ethnicity-based wage discrimination. 1
Gender pay gaps still exist.
California employers can give employees unequal pay for doing substantially similar work for reasons that:
If a different business practice would result in the same business goal without causing a wage difference, then there is no business necessity.
Legitimate reasons for wage gaps include:
Example: Tom has been working the same factory job for 20 years. Tina is hired for the same job, having no prior experience. Even though Tom and Tina are doing identical work, it is reasonable for Tom to receive higher wages than his new female colleague because Tom has two decades more experience.
In short, wage disparities between workers who do similar jobs are legal as long they are reasonably based on legitimate factors and not on conscious or unconscious bias, prejudice, or discrimination. In our experience, we see employers exploiting these legitimate factors as loopholes to discriminate against workers due to their race or gender. 2
California employers may not ask about your salary history. This prevents employers from using any low salaries you earned in the past to justify paying you a lower salary than they would otherwise.
Note that employers are permitted to seek salary histories that are publicly available through
Moreover, employers are allowed to ask you about your “salary expectations.”
Yes. You can volunteer your prior salary information to a prospective employer. In our experience, this makes sense if you received large salaries in the past since it may prompt the employer to make you a more generous offer than it would have otherwise.
Note that employers who do wrongfully ask about your salary history information or use it to determine your current wages face a civil penalty of $100 to $10,000 per violation. 3
Yes. In fact, California employers with 15 or more employees are required to include salary ranges on job postings. This must include piece rate or commission wages if applicable; however, employers do not have to post information about bonuses, tips, or other benefits.
Otherwise, once you complete an initial interview with an employer, the employer must provide you with a pay scale for that position if you “reasonably request” it. (“Reasonably” just means that you had an initial interview.)
You can also ask about your co-workers’ wages, though your employer does not have to reveal that information. In any case, employers may not retaliate against you for asking about pay scales or your colleagues’ wages. 4
The purpose of “wage transparency” is to empower employees to demand fair pay on par with substantially similar workers. Only employers benefit from keeping wage information secret.
The California Labor Commissioner investigates equal pay law violations.
If your employer is paying you less due to your sex, race, or ethnicity, you may either:
(You do not have to file a claim with the Labor Commissioner before bringing a lawsuit.)
Filing a wage claim is typically cheaper, easier, and shorter than bringing a lawsuit. All you have to do is complete and email the EPA-1 Form – which asks for basic information about your case – to [email protected] .
Note that the Labor Commissioner will keep your name confidential unless it is necessary to investigate your case. If you and your co-workers file similar claims, the same investigator will likely be assigned to them all.
Note that if you were discriminated against based on another protected category such as religion or age, you must file a claim with the CRD – California Civil Rights Department (formerly DFEH – California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing).
If you bring a lawsuit, there is a three-step process:
We handle the entire process of filing a claim and bringing a lawsuit, though in many cases, we can achieve favorable results just by sending your employer a strongly-worded demand letter. Many employers are willing to make generous financial concessions to avoid bad publicity and legal trouble.
If your employer was willfully paying you less because of your sex, race, or ethnicity, you have three years to file a claim since the violation occurred. Though if your employer’s actions were not willful, then you have two years to file. 6
Each paycheck you receive that pays you less than you are entitled to counts as a “violation.”
Note that employers are required to maintain your wage record for the entirety of your employment plus at least three years. This way, all the evidence of your wages will be available should you bring a wage claim. 7
If the California Labor Commissioner investigates your case and concludes your employer indeed violated the Equal Pay Act, it will demand that your employer pay you double the amount of the money you should have been paid, plus interest.
If your employer refuses to pay you what you are owed, then the Labor Commissioner will file a lawsuit on your behalf.
Meanwhile, if the Labor Commissioner does not find a CEPA violation, it will dismiss your case. In that event, we can file a traditional wage and hour lawsuit, where we can pursue the largest monetary settlement allowable under the law plus attorney’s fees and court costs. 8
CEPA was enacted in 1949 but has since been revised to strengthen pay equity protections.
If you are being retaliated against for exercising your rights under CEPA, you may either:
Depending on the case, you may be able to recover back wages and lost benefits (plus interest) and appropriate equitable relief, such as being reinstated to your job.
Specifically, CEPA prohibits your employer from taking adverse actions against you for either:
Retaliation can take many forms, such as:
Be sure to document all instances of retaliation and keep any evidence, such as work emails, memos, etc. The more proof we have, the easier time we will have winning you a settlement.
As of January 1, 2024, there is a rebuttable presumption of retaliation if you get disciplined/discharged within 90 days of engaging in certain protected activity protected by California’s Equal Pay Act. If the employer then articulates a legitimate reason for their actions, you have to show that the adverse action was nonetheless retaliatory. (Learn more about SB 497.)
A new law effective January of 2016, the California Fair Pay Act (CFPA) mandates equal pay for employees who do “substantially similar work” instead of “equal work“, which was the previous standard. This way, job titles – which can be misleading – do not factor into the pay disparity evaluation. All that matters is the actual job duties the employees carry out.
Furthermore, when the Labor Commissioner investigates wage gaps at a particular establishment, it now looks at what workers are making throughout California’s entire workforce for doing the same job. (Every year, all private employers with at least 100 employees are required to submit a pay data report to the Civil Rights Department – formerly DFEH.)
This way for example, a female hotel worker in a rural town should expect to make the same wages as a male hotel worker in a big city for doing substantially similar work (barring bona fide factors for a wage differential, such as a higher cost-of-living in the city). 10
Yes. According to the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, a woman earns only 84 cents for every dollar a man earns. The gap worsens for:
Occupations and career fields that suffer the biggest gender wage gaps are:
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
