Sub-Contractor Sex based Discrimination?

[Z43Z43]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?
Work in Pennsylvania
Company X in Virginia
First I'm going to apologize up front because I forsee this as being a long post......Sorry......
I'll start off from the very begining. I started working for the govt. about 7 months ago as a contractor (contracted out by company X). Along with me Company X hired 2 other people in a 2 week time frame another female and a male. We all were hired to perform the same job and all have the same work description. Company X was very hasty in getting me to get this job and sign the contract. When I originally talked to her they told me I would be gettin 1,500 more than I am now. I don't have a problem with that because what she said on the phone wasn't a binding contract. The other female contractor said the same situation happened to her. Well time goes by my boss gives me a project to work on well guess what it has the contract amounts the company paid for us to Company X. They paid an equal amount for each of us. Well later on we learn to find out Company X isn't paying each of us equal amounts (eventhough the govt. thought we were all equal in their eyes) the male makes 10,000 more than the females. Here are my issues. We all have diffrent job backgrounds and education. The female getting paid the least has the most relevant work experience. The male is let me put this kindly "slow". I'm a recent graduate from college and I have to explain how to do things to him. Pretty much I train him and it is known. The two females make way less than the male eventhough we're all hired for the same job title, have the same work PD and are all worth the same to the govt. entity we are working for. Is this legal. I have documentation of all the information. When we called company X we spoke to a hiring manager (not the one who is in charge of us) and told him the situation he said they don't do business like that then looked it up on the computer and said it's not right and we should right away call our hiring manager and resolve the issure right away. I'm a little wary of calling I don't want to loose my job but I do want that 10,000 extra a year I feel I deserve. Can they fire me on this bases for asking and probing. Is this discrimination based on sex (also the other female is black and I am a foreign national to add to the mix).
Also since the govt. was the one to review our resumes shouldn't they decide who gets paid more and who gets paid less. We are actually doing the work for them and not for Company X. What criteria would Company X have to discriminate against the females.
Do we have a case or what??
Also side note if I do have a case will this be on any type of my records that future employers could see.

 

[Beth3]

Just because your employer has the same billing rate to the client company for all of you (which is quite common) does not obligate them to pay you all the same wage. Same goes even though you're doing the same job.

There are any number of reasons why employees doing the same job are paid at different rates. There are also plenty of reasons why a person with less experience can be paid more than others who have more. Perhaps he was making a higher salary previously than you two and they needed to pay more to get him. Perhaps he's a better negotiator than you and your female co-worker are. Perhaps he was more aware of the market value of the job and demanded more and the contractor was in a bind (needing a third person for the assignment asap) and caved. Because there are so many reasons why an individual can be paid more than another doing the same or similar work, those need to be ruled out before anyone can assume gender is an issue here.

If the government wanted to decide who should get paid what, they would have hired you all directly. Since they didn't do that and you work for a private employer, they have no say in the matter.

Whether you can get fired for asking and probing about this depends on how you go about it and who you speak to. Telling your employer your concerns about your pay rate is likely a protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act. "Making a big stink" about it, complaining to the client about your pay, involving others in the situation who have no involvement, etc., are not.

 

[cbg]

And no, if you do file a complaint it will not be any record that a prospective employer will be accessing.

However, I agree with Beth that we are a very long way from seeing a gender discrimination complaint yet.

 

[Z43Z43]

I was the last one hired out of the group and they did try to rush me into signing the contract. They told me upfront what I would be making and gave me a contract for a lesser value. The hiring manager called continuosly to get me to accept the job so out of the three of us working there it seems like they were very eager to employee me and more pursuint than with the other two. My previous job paid a lot more money and I was very hesitant to take the job but the hiring manager would call me at least 3 times a week building the job up so much. I've talked to the other male employee and he said he took what they offered him. So between the three of us there was very little negotiating they flatly offered him more money than the two women. Also the other female contractor said she told the hiring manager she wasn't going to work for less than 3,000 more than what they originally offered since she was taking a big pay cut. They said they couldn't offer her any more money (obviously a lie since the male's making 10,000 more so they did have the money). So is that right that they can offer any employee, without knowing anything about them except their sex, age, religion and nationality any amount of money they want? is it also right that they can offer the male 10,000 more than the females and when the female asks for more they say they can't increase the salary by that amount. I would figure that they would have to start the negotiating at the same point for all three of us or at least around the same area. If this isn't discrimination then I think my definition is jaded and I would ask somebody to please explain to me the proper definition.

I'm sorry but I'm still bitter. I do have a job offer on the table right now and I am going to take it (since they are offering me the right salary for my work and time). It just upsets me and disgusts me that these are the way things are and that someone of his intelligence (by that I mean very low) could be getting paid so much more than us females and yet it is still not considered discrimination.

 

[cbg]

Hold on a second. No one said there was NO illegal discrimination going on; we said that on the basis of what was in your post, there was no clear-cut evidence of discrimination. While there MIGHT be discrimination, there are several other potential LEGAL reasons why the one employee might be paid more that had to be eliminated first.

The law does not require that all employees doing the job be paid the same wage. It only requires that the pay not be based on gender, race, religion, national origin etc.

If you are convinced that you are being paid less solely because of your gender, there is nothing stopping you from filing a complaint with the EEOC and/or your state discrimination board.