Legal Question in Business Law in California

I work in a high tech company in California as a non exempt employee and therefore I am paid hourly. I am not allowed to work OT, so just get paid for 40 hours/week. Recently another employee was hired as an exempt employee and is performing the EXACT same duties I am (which are highly administrative). This new employee is classified at a much higher job level, and therefore is being paid much more (around $25K more per year) to do the exact same job I am performing. Do I have any legal recourse or rights for the job wage/classification/pay difference? Is it okay for a company to have an exempt and nonexmpt classification for the same job duties and pay so differently? We are both female, Caucasian and over 40 years old. Any help or guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks!


Asked on 4/16/14, 10:58 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

You have an absolute right to equal pay for equal work . . . IF and ONLY IF any difference in pay is due to discrimination on the basis of a protected classification, such as the three you eliminated in your question. The only other way you have a legal right to equal pay for the same work is in a union or a civil service job where there are pay grade rules involved.

If you are being paid double minimum wage ($16/hr) or more, where the more likely legal violation exists is in treating her as non-exempt. If you are paid at least 2x minimum wage, AND your job duties and hers actually do qualify to be exempt, it would be in your employer's interest to put YOU on salary too and work you all the overtime they want for free. But they can only do that IF you are paid 2xMinimum Wage AND are in an exempt job, such as management or are a licensed professional. VERY few admin jobs can qualify as exempt. So if your job duties really are exactly the same as hers, chances are she is illegally being treated as exempt. Otherwise they could make you exempt with no change in pay.

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Answered on 4/16/14, 11:56 pm


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