Louisiana Now Requires Equal Pay for State Workers

Author: Beth P. Zoller, XpertHR Legal Editor

July 3, 2013

Louisiana state employers should revise their compensation practices and take affirmative steps to prevent wage discrimination due to the state's enactment of the Equal Pay for Women Act. The new law, which mandates equal pay for males and females,takes effect August 1, 2013.

State employers are required to pay male and female state employees equally for the same or substantially similar work requiring equal skill, effort, education and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions. An employer may not discriminate, retaliate or take any other negative employment action against an employee because that employee files a complaint or asserts his or her rights under this law.

Further, the new law mandates that state employers create and preserve records with the name, address and position of each employee and all wages paid to each employee for a period of three years after the employee's last date of employment.

The Equal Pay for Women Act permits employers to pay different wages to employees when such payment is made under a seniority system, a merit system or a system measuring earnings by quantity or quality of production. In addition, an employer may pay different wages to male and female employees if the differential is based on a bona fide factor other than sex (i.e., based on education, training or experience, provided that the factor is job-related and no alternative employment practice would serve the same legitimate business purpose).

The new law provides that a state employee may submit a notice of wage discrimination to his or her employer. The state employer then has 60 days to investigate the claim and remedy any violation. If the 60 days expires without a wage adjustment, the state employee may file a complaint with the Louisiana Human Rights Commission. If the Human Rights Commission is unable to resolve the dispute, the employee can file a civil lawsuit. Lawsuits to recover unpaid wages and other relief must be brought within one year of the date that the employee becomes aware or should have been aware of the wage differential.

State employers that violate the law may be liable for the amount of unpaid wages and any related court costs.