enequal pay

[westwing]

What is the name of your state?
Mass.

I work in a piecework or flatrate shop and have seen different compensation for same job depending on who the employee was. This is aside from the per hr. rate given to all employees. Favoritism is prevelant and can be documented. Can I make a claim and to what end ?

 

[Son of Slam]

Some place's would favor the employee giving the least need for repairs of mistakes and tools.

 

[cbg]

Nothing in the law says that compensation must be exactly equal. It cannot be different because of gender under the Equal Pay Act; it cannot be different because of other Title VII protected groups. But it can be different because of seniority, experience, education, differing market rates at time of hire, differing contracts, differing negotiations between employee and employer, and a host of other reasons INCLUDING favoritism, as long as the favoritism is not based on gender, race, age etc. The fact that the compensation is different does not, in itself, give you the basis of a lawsuit of any kind.

 

[westwing]

unequal pay

Well, no contracts exist, I have seniority, more experience, more education, only diff is willingness to suck up to the boss. One job I am thinking of paid 10.0 hrs. vs. 5.8 hrs.
But I thank you for your replies.

 

[rmcnellis]

cbg - in a situation like this where the poster is employed in a "flat rate" manner shouldn't the flat rate be the same for all employees doing the same job? unless maybe i am intrepting the post incorrectly, it sounds as if one employee is being paid more for the same exact job as another. flat rate shops usually abide by a "labor time guide" that states exactly how many hours or tenths of an hour the job takes and that is what the employee is paid. if "bob" replaces a starter on a 1998 chevy truck and the LTG states it pays .8 he gets paid .8, but "chuck" replaces a starter on a 1998 chevy truck that is exactly the same as the one "bob" worked on, but he only gets paid .5 - well, that's not right and i know the technicians where i work would go screaming to the department of labor were that to happen here. am i way off? thanks.

 

[Beth3]

What an employer SHOULD do and what they HAVE to do are two different things. It is perfectly legal to pay "Bob" $20/hr to assemble widgets and "Joe" $10/hr to assemble widgets, even if Joe is a better performer, has more seniority, is more productive, etc. There are no laws that require an employer to set compensation rates on a fair or equitable basis. The employer can pay whatever they like as long as the inequitability isn't based on age, race, gender, etc. as cbg said above.

The DOL would have no jurisdiction in the scenario you describe, rmcnellis.

Paying Bob more because he sucks up to the boss is an excellent way to lose Joe to another employer, but that's it.