Bona Fide Factor Other Than Sex

Under the Equal Pay Act, employers can defend a pay differential by proving it's based on a 'factor other than sex.' The Paycheck Fairness Act would significantly narrow this defense, requiring the employer to demonstrate that the factor is job-related, consistent with business necessity, and accounts for the entire wage differential. This aims to prevent the use of subjective or vague factors that may perpetuate gender-based pay gaps.

A 'bona fide factor other than sex' refers to a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason that an employer can use to justify a differential in pay between employees performing comparable work. Examples provided by the law include, but are not limited to, education, training, credential, skill, geographic location, or experience. For such a factor to be considered bona fide, the employer must demonstrate that it is job-related and consistent with business necessity, and not based or derived from a sex-based differential in compensation.

A 'bona fide factor' refers to a permissible, non-discriminatory reason that can legitimately justify a wage differential between employees performing comparable work. Under the Rhode Island Pay Equity Act, such factors must be job-related with respect to the position in question, consistent with business necessity, and not based upon or derived from a differential in compensation related to a protected characteristic (e.g., race, sex, age). Examples include seniority systems, merit systems, systems measuring earnings by quantity or quality of production, geographic location (with limitations), reasonable shift differentials, and job-related education, training, or experience.