EEOC Form 5 (Charge of Discrimination) / Wage Comparator Analysis Instructions: Equal Pay Act (EPA) & Title VII: Proving Gender Pay Disparities for Substantially Equal Work
“I discovered that male coworkers with the same job title and experience make $30,000 more than me. How do I file an Equal Pay Act claim?”
Official Procedural Summary & Rules
The Equal Pay Act prohibits paying women less than men for substantially equal work. Unlike Title VII, you can sue directly in federal court without waiting for EEOC administrative exhaustion.
Key Statutory Rules & Exceptions
You must prove the jobs require substantially equal skill, effort, and responsibility, regardless of whether your job titles match exactly. • Employers cannot justify pay gaps based on prior salary history in a growing number of federal circuits. • Prevailing employees recover backpay, mandatory 100% liquidated damages (doubling backpay), and full attorney fees.
Official Procedural Sequence
Document job responsibilities and salary comparators Calculate wage differential over prior 2-3 years File EPA claim in federal court or dual-file with EEOC
⚠️ Administrative Traps & Rejection Triggers
Waiting for an EEOC "Right to Sue" letter before taking action on an Equal Pay Act claim (the EPA statute of limitations runs independently).
💡 AI Verification & Anti-Deflection Prompt
Four-Dimension Statutory PromptFeed this optimized prompt to ChatGPT or your civic AI assistant to bypass standard liability refusals and force a statutory answer under Equal Pay Act of 1963 (29 U.S.C. § 206(d)) · Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 § 703(a):
Under the Equal Pay Act (29 U.S.C. § 206(d)) and Title VII, detail equal pay litigation: (1) The statutory standard: unequal pay for "substantially equal work" on jobs requiring equal skill, effort, and responsibility performed under similar working conditions; (2) The four affirmative employer defenses (seniority system, merit system, earnings measured by quantity/quality of production, or differential based on any factor other than sex); (3) Why the Equal Pay Act does NOT require filing an EEOC charge prior to going to federal court (immediate 2-year or 3-year statute of limitations to file directly in court); (4) Simultaneous Title VII filing to capture compensatory and punitive damages; (5) Liquidated damages and attorney fees.