As the Equal Pay Act (“EPA”) stands today, a pay discrimination victim may only recover back pay—the difference between what the employee was paid and the amount the employee should have been paid. While at first glance, back pay may seem like an adequate remedy, only providing back pay to pay discrimination victims ignores the emotional toll pay discrimination has on an affected employee. The Paycheck Fairness Act seeks to change the current statutory scheme by making compensatory damages, including compensatory damages for emotional harm, available to pay discrimination victims. Should the Paycheck Fairness Act become law, this Note suggests a course of action for practitioners, arbitrators, and juries to recognize the unique emotional harms pay discrimination causes, including reputational harm, public shame, and humiliation; quantify emotional harm for pay discrimination victims; and award compensatory damages that truly make pay discrimination victims “whole” again.
* J.D. Candidate, 2024, University of Illinois College of Law; B.S., 2019, Cornell University. Thank you to the University of Illinois Law Review staff, editors, and members for all their hard work throughout the editing process. I dedicate this Note to my family and friends for their unwavering love and support throughout law school.
The full text of this Note is available to download as a PDF.