Using Prior Salary to Set Pay Violates Federal Law, 9th Cir. Says

A California school system’s pay structure that factors in employee salary history violates a federal law intended to reduce the gender pay gap, a federal appeals court ruled.

The April 9 decision overrules precedent in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said prior salary may be a valid basis for setting pay as long as there’s a reasonable business reason, even if it results in a difference in pay between male and female workers.

“Prior salary is not job related and it perpetuates the very gender-based assumptions about the value of work that the Equal Pay ...