In Rizo v. Yovino, the Court examined the Equal Pay Act and what employers can consider when deciding salaries. The question was whether Aileen Rizo’s prior rate of pay was a “factor other than sex” that allowed Fresno County’s Office of Education to pay her less than male employees who perform the same work. The Court noted that Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act to combat pay disparities caused by sex discrimination, but it allowed employers to justify different pay for employees of the opposite sex based on three enumerated affirmative defenses, or “any other factor other than sex.”  The Court held that contrary to Fresno County’s argument, only job-related factors may serve as affirmative defenses to EPA claims. Prior pay does not qualify as a job-related factor that can defeat a prima facie Equal Pay Act claim.

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