Equal Pay--Fair Play

This article, which appeared in the GAO Review, Vol. 18, Issue 1, Winter 1983, discusses the issue of equal pay for equal work and recent legal developments in this area. The author reported that the Supreme Court has stated that: (1) Civil Rights Act principles may form the basis for a claim of sex discrimination in compensation; and (2) not using labor market rates to set wages would go a long way toward easing the effect of past discrimination and achieving pay comparability for women. The author found more speculative possibilities of a court's requiring employer job evaluations or universal acceptance of a comparable worth theory, since these might be more costly to employers.