It Is Illegal to Pay More Based on Gender

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently sued a psychiatric care center alleging that the Center violated the Equal Pay Act by paying a male employee more than all four female employees who were in the position that he worked.  The lawsuit claims that the Center hired this male employee and then gave him three promotions without any competition in a period of barely more than a year.  Each time he was promoted he was given a higher rate of pay than the four female employees who worked the same job that he did.  In addition, the four female employees worked at his supervisor at one point, have longer tenure than he has, and two of them had more state government tenure.  This alleged conduct violates the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibits employers from paying more to employees based on a protected class such as gender.  See EEOC v. Thomas B. Finan Center, Maryland Department of Health, Civil Action No. 1:22-cv-2407 (D. Md.).