John Stewart
Wed, 05/03/2023
On April 28, 2023, the Federal Circuit issued an en banc opinion, in Moore v. United States (Case No. 2022-1475) overturning the dismissal of an SEC employee’s Equal Pay Act (“EPA”) claim. En banc means that all of the judges of the Federal Circuit bench participated in the case.
The plaintiff alleged that he was paid less than two other comparator employees in his office, who are women, with the same title, requiring the same skill, effort, and responsibilities, performed under similar working conditions. This was due to a 2014 program to recalibrate pay for SEC employees, to allow employees to receive credit for their years of experience, regardless of when they were hired by the SEC. The plaintiff had not applied for the pay recalibration within the application period due to family-related issues, while the two comparator employees had applied for and received the recalibration. In his complaint, the employee alleged that the application process was unnecessary to implement the pay increases and that the SEC had no basis for creating a deadline to apply for the pay increase and for extending that deadline for others, but not him. The United States moved to dismiss.
Following the rule stated by the Federal Circuit in Yant v. United States, 588 F.3d 1369 (Fed. Cir. 2009), the trial court granted the United States’ motion to dismiss, reasoning that the employee had failed to allege that the difference in pay was “either historically or presently based on sex.” On appeal, the en banc Federal Circuit reversed—overturning Yant and bringing the Federal Circuit’s standard for an Equal Pay Act claim in line with the rule in other circuits. Now, federal employees suing in the Federal Circuit no longer need to establish that the disparate pay was due “either historically or presently based on sex,” only “that an employer pays different wages to employees of opposite sexes for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions.”
For more information on employees’ rights to fair and equal pay for their work, visit https://www.mselaborlaw.com/practice-areas/metoo-in-the-workplace or contact us at info@mselaborlaw.com.
