The Equal Pay Act: Using EEOC v. Verona Area School District in the Classroom
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This teaching note provides everything needed to conduct an engaging class activity that illustrates numerous legal principles of the Equal Pay Act. Students assume the role of a successful fitness center owner that needs to hire a new employee. The issue arises because the potential new hire is requesting more money than an equivalent, existing employee who happens to be of the opposite gender. Students are provided reading materials regarding the background of the business, the Equal Pay Act, and pleadings from United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Verona Area School District a recent case involving this very issue. The activity always produces impassioned discussion that leads to a better understanding of employment law principles, such as burden shifting, strict liability, and affirmative defenses. Perhaps even more importantly, the activity also illustrates practical implications of the law that are often overlooked in legal education, such as the important difference between what happened and what can be proved in court, negative publicity, the importance of a sympathetic plaintiff, circuit splits, the inherent subjectivity of legal standards, and the high costs of winning a trial.Part II of this teaching note provides valuable background information regarding the Equal Pay Act and the Verona Area School District case. This includes detailed discussion on the fourth affirmative defense, any other factor than sex, which is broken down into market forces, negotiation, and prior pay. Part III provides instructions to implement the activity into the classroom, including open-ended discussion questions to spark lively debate. Part IV concludes by summarizing the numerous benefits of the activity. Finally, Appendix A provides the detailed student handout for the class assignment, including resource links.
