Kevin L.

Johnson
Human Resource Management: Equal Pay Act of 1963

This Research Paper is submitted in partial fulfillment for

Human Resource Management
Southern Utah University
Fall 2013

Equal Pay Act of 1963

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was signed into law on June 10, 1963 by President John F.
Kennedy. This legislation was a monumental mile stone achievement in dismantling a history of
work discrimination between men and women in the workforce. Equal pay is a vitally important
federal law for human resource managers to understand in order to maintain a cohesive work
environment and protect the organization from litigation. While the original intent to protect
women in the work place is largely agreed on, opposing views on the current wage gap between
men and women is highly controversial, as well as politically influential. In fact, this discussion
of pay gap was part of a series of womens issues that the Barak Obama campaign put a
significant amount of time and money into with great success in winning the women vote in the
2012 Presidential election. Regardless of whether the pay gap is a result of blind discrimination
or is the result of tradeoffs for the Human Resource Manager, equal pay for equal work is not
only an equitable practice, its the law. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, this paper will
give historical account of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and will detail the plight of women in the
20th century leading to the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Secondly, this paper will conclude with
recommendations in consequence of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, as well as further legislations
that have influenced the practice of human resource management.

Women in America
The 20th Century brought with it two great triumphs for women in America. The early
part of the century was highlighted by two esteemed women, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth
Cady Stanton. In 1878, these two women first drafted a proposal for the 19th amendment which
would give women the right to vote (Catt, 2000). The Womens Suffrage Movement was a long,

hard fought ordeal for these women and countless others who spent several decades pursuing the
right to be able to vote. It was not until August 18, 1920, which was 42 years after their original
proposal, that they were vindicated with the ratification of the 19th amendment (Catt, 2000). The
United States has had a long history of pay inequality between men and women. During World
War II, large numbers of women were being employed in a variety of war industries to support
the war abroad. During this period of war, the National War Labor Board urged for employers to
equalize salaries for women; however, employers failed to heed this request and at the wars end,
many women were even pushed out of their new jobs as troops returned to the work force
(Brunner, 2007). In fact, up until the early 1960s, it was an employers right to use gender as
determinant of salary. The 1960s brought with it a resurgence of womens rights as the Civil
Rights Movement was in full force (Brunner, 2007). This type of support for womens rights had
not been seen since the Suffrage Movement earlier in the century. Women were being lawfully
discriminated against in the workforce and momentum for this injustice was in their favor. On
the 10th of June 1963, the Equal Pay Act was signed into law. Building upon this act the
following year, the Civil Rights Act was legislated into effect, bringing with it changes that have
forever changed Human Resource Management in America.

The14th Amendment
In order to understand the significance of these events, such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963
and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, one needs to go back to the 14th amendment that was adopted
on July 9, 1868, as one of the reconstruction amendments. The 14th amendment, as observed
today, is specifically important to these two laws due to the Equal Protection Clause. However, in
1868, equal protection under the law did not have the broad interpretation that it has today. At the
time, the 14th amendment was truly significant in that it overruled the Supreme Court decision in

Dred Scott v. Sandford, in which African Americans could not be citizens (Archives, 2010).
Without the 14th amendment, would we have the Womens Suffrage Movement that would begin
a decade later? The 14th amendment was crucial for the Supreme Courts decision in the 1954
Brown v. Board of Education that began the dismantling of racial segregation. These legislations
had a trickledown effect to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The continuance of our broader interpretation of the 14th amendment has had a dramatic
influence on Human Resource Management.

Civil Rights Act

The Civil Rights Act was enacted on July 2nd, 1964 as a broad legislation intended to end
discrimination against racial, ethnic, women, national and religious minorities. Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination by employers. This part of the legislation builds upon
the Equal Pay Act of 1963, further encompassing discrimination to other demographics of
society. In Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it formed the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, as a federal law enforcement agency to enforce workplace
discrimination (Archives, 2010). Avoiding litigation from employees has become big business in
Human Resource Management. Unfortunately, the statistics may be telling a different story as to
the importance of how much some organizations have placed a value on avoiding discrimination
based litigation. The EEOC obtained a historic amount of money in FY 2012 from private
employers mounting up through its administrative process-$365.4 million (Goldman, 2013).
Over the last five years, they have been roughly receiving 100,000 private sector workplace
discrimination charges. In a recent report, it suggested that sexual harassment accounted nearly
20% of all private sector claims (Goldman, 2013). Not surprisingly, many employers are finding
it prudent to allocate funding to provide sexual harassment training to their employees. However,

claims involving race discrimination, termination, and retaliation, also account for a large
number of claims in which organizations would be wise to account for. In economic times such
as these, it has become important for many organizations to gain a collaborative approach within
their organization to focus all departments on positively influencing the bottom line.

Wage Gap
Despite the great strides that we have made in this country in response to the Equal Pay
Act of 1963, women who work full time still earn, on average, only 77 cents for every dollar that
men earn (Bhattacharjee, 2013). This statistic has become quite politicized as of late and has
been received with varying degree of acceptance. While the wage gap issue was one of many
issues that the Obama campaign successfully used to win the female vote in the presidential
election, there is significant data that would suggest that discrimination is not the only factor in
the wage gap. Critics of the wage gap quickly bring up the fact that men, for a long time, have
dominated high paying fields such as medicine, engineering, and law. While many women have
chosen to be educated in careers that have led to lower paying salaries, such as teaching.
However, over the next 5 to 10 years, the wage gap has the potential for a bit of a shift. The
number of women attending and graduating from universities has now exceeded that of their
male counterparts. Women account for approximately 57% of recent college graduates and the
number appears to be climbing (Bhattacharjee, 2013). Despite what the statistics may or may not
prove as to the reasoning of the wage gap, Human Resource Managers would be wise to
understand its importance. Many employers shy away from employee wage disclosure for
competitive reasons, as well as keeping a cohesive work environment. However, violations of the
Equal Pay Act can have a way of rearing its head, even under the tightest wage disclosure policy.
Richard Cohen, a New York based attorney who specializes in labor law, mentioned in a recent

article that a lot of women are not even aware of the Equal Pay Act of 1963. He suggested that
many women, even when they have been victims of wage discrimination, stay quiet about it.
However, sometimes it is something else that makes them angry, such as sexual harassment
which constitutes 20% of all employee discrimination claims and then at this point, the wage
discrimination will also get mentioned in a lawsuit in addition to sexual harassment
(Bhattacharjee, 2013).

Social Capital
One component of the gender wage gap discrepancy that also gets a little attention is the
concept of social capital. This concept is important when considering the evaluation that goes
into the hiring and promoting process. Networking and knowing the right people can go a long
way in achieving success in employment. This is one of the unintended consequences that
translates into the workforce as human beings create and grow relationships. While social capital
seemingly influences all employees, Human Resource Managers should pay special attention to
how it can influence female employees. While many female employees balance work life with
that of child rearing, they may find it difficult to attend extra-curricular activities that go a long
way in forming and strengthening important relationships. This can be particularly true in
occupations that have been predominantly filled by men like engineers.

Conclusion
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 has changed the way we look at Human Resource
Management. Additional legislation, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 will
continue to alter the way organizations protect themselves against litigation by complying with
the law. My recommendation for complying with the Equal Pay Act of 1963 is quite simple.

First, I recommend that Human Resource Managers attempt to hire and promote based on skill
analysis and that a portion of this system is achieved by an independent body. Second, I would
recommend that all organizations should attempt to diversify their workforce and that they
should evaluate worker salaries at least annually to assure that the Equal Pay Act is being
complied with.

Bibliography
Archives. (2010, January 14). Teaching with documents: The Civil Rights Act of 1964
and the Equal Opportunity Commission. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from
National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/
Bhattacharjee, R. (2013, June 10). Some studies suggest that the gender wage gap
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http://news.msn.com/us/50-years-after-equal-pay-acts-passage-gender-wagegap-still-persists
Brunner, B. (2007, June 13). The Equal Pay Act. Retrieved October 08, 2013, from
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