A federal law prohibiting wage discrimination based on sex (29 U.S.C. §206(d)). The Equal Pay Act (EPA) is a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal law governing wage and hour matters, and applies to all employers covered under the FLSA (for information about covered employers, see Practice Note, Wage and Hour Law: Overview: Covered Employers and Employees).

To make a claim for discrimination under the EPA, an employee must show that unequal wages are paid for equal work both:

The EPA allows for unequal pay if the difference results from:

The EPA is administered and enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. For more information about the EPA, see Practice Note, Sex Discrimination Under Title VII and the EPA: EPA Overview. For more information about wage and hour law generally, see Practice Note, Wage and Hour Law: Overview.