In the case of Aileen Rizo vs. Fresno County, reported on by several news sources such as Whittier Daily News, Tribune News Service, and The Chicago Tribune, Rizo found out in 2012 that she was being paid much lower than her male colleagues at her new job as a consultant for math teachers at Fresno County Schools. Despite being far more qualified and experienced than her colleagues, Rizo was paid a salary eight steps lower than her male colleagues on a ten-step salary scale. Rizo sued the county. However, the county argued that its policy to determine employees’ salaries is reasonable and objective because it was based on employees’ most recent job’s salary base. According to Equal Pay Act, written into law by John F. Kennedy in 1963, pay difference between men and women is allowed if the pay is based on “a factor other than sex” (Thanawala), which can be said…show more content… Additionally, they claim that their policy does not clash with the Equal Pay Act, as gender is not mentioned anywhere in their wage policy. Furthermore, to back up their argument, the county brought up the fact that they have some highly-paid female employees, which supposedly proves that both women and men benefit from their policy. In other words, they are saying that it isn’t their fault that Rizo is getting paid eight steps lower on the ten-step pay scale-- they are simply following their policy which relies on the employee’s previous salary, and therefore they are not culpable for any gender-based wage gap in their
