Nebraska Equal Pay Act (1969)

An Act relating to labor; to eliminate the practice of discriminating on the basis of sex by paying wages to one sex at a lesser rate than the rate paid to employees of the opposite sex for comparable work on jobs; to define terms; to provide powers and duties for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; to provide for damages; to provide a limitation of action; to provide for records, reporting, and posting of law; to provide penalties; to repeal sections 48-1210 to 48-1218, Revised Statutes Supplement, 1967; and to declare an emergency.

Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,

Section 1. (1) The practice of discriminating on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees of one sex at a lesser rate than the rate paid to employees of the opposite sex for comparable work on jobs which have comparable requirements:

     (a) Unjustly discriminates against the person receiving the lesser rate;

     (b) Leads to low worker morale, high turnover, and frequent labor unrest;

     (c) Discourages workers paid at the lesser wage rates from training for higher level jobs;

     (d) Curtails employment opportunities, decreases workers' mobility, and increases labor costs;

     (e) Impairs purchasing power and threatens the maintenance of an adequate standard of living by such workers and their families;

     (f) Prevents optimum utilization of the state's available labor resources; and

     (g) Threatens the well-being of citizens of this state, and adversely affects the general welfare.

(2) It is therefore declared to be the policy of this state through exercise of its police power to correct and, as rapidly as possible, to eliminate discriminatory wage practices based on sex.

Sec. 2. As used in this act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) Employee shall mean any individual employed by an employer, including individuals employed by the state or any of its political subdivisions including public bodies;

(2) Employer shall mean a person engaged in an industry who has twenty-five or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year and any agent of such person, but such term does not include the United States, a corporation wholly owned by the government of the United States, or an Indian tribe;

(3) Wage rate shall mean all compensation for employment including payment in kind and amounts paid by employers for employee benefits as defined by the commission in regulations issued under the provisions of this act;

(4) Employ shall include to suffer or permit to work;

(5) Commission shall mean the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; and

(6) Person shall include one or more individuals, partnerships, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, or voluntary associations.

Sec. 3. (1) No employer shall discriminate between employees in the same establishment on the basis of sex, by paying wages to any employee in such establishment at a wage rate less than the rate at which the employer pays any employee of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs which require equal skill, effort and responsibility under similar working conditions. Wage differentials are not within this prohibition where such payments are made pursuant to: (a) An established seniority system; (b) a merit increase system; or (c) a system which measures earning by quantity or quality of production or any factor other than sex.

(2) An employer who is paying a wage differential in violation of the provisions of this act shall not, in order to comply with it, reduce the wage rates of any employee.

(3) No person shall cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against any employee in violation of the provisions of this act.

(4) No employer may discharge or discriminate against any employee by reason of any action taken by such employee to invoke or assist in any manner the enforcement of the provisions of this act.

Sec. 4. (1) The commission shall have the power and the duty to carry out the provisions of this act.

(2) For this purpose, the commission shall have the power to enter the place of employment of any employer to inspect and copy payrolls and other employment records, to compare character of work and operations on which persons employed by him are engaged, to question such person, and to obtain such other information as is reasonably necessary to the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this act.

(3) The commission shall have power to examine witnesses under oath, and to require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of any documentary evidence relating to the subject matter of any investigation undertaken pursuant to this section. Witnesses summoned by the commission shall be paid the same fees as are allowed witnesses attending the district court. In the event of the failure of a person to attend, testify or produce documents under or in response to a subpoena, the district court for the county in which the appearance is requested on application of the commission may issue an order requiring such person to appear before the commission, or to produce documentary evidence, and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by the court as a contempt thereof.

(4) The commission is authorized to endeavor to eliminate pay practices unlawful under the provisions of this act, by informal methods of conference, conciliation and persuasion, and to supervise the payment of wages owing to any employee under the provisions of this act.

(5) The commission shall have power to issue such regulations, not inconsistent with the purpose of this act, as it deems necessary or appropriate to carry out its provisions. 

Sec. 5. (1) Any employer who violates the provisions of section 3 of this act shall be liable to the employee or employees affected in the amount of their unpaid wages, and, in instances of willful violation, in employee suits under subsection (2) of this section up to an additional equal amount as liquidated damages.

(2) Action to recover such liability may be maintained in any court of competent jurisdiction by any one or more employees for and in behalf of himself or themselves and other employees similarly situated. The court in such action shall, in cases of violation in addition to any judgment awarded to the plaintiff or plaintiffs, allow a reasonable attorney's fee to be paid by the defendant, and costs of the action.

(3) No agreement by any such employee to work for less than the wage to which such employee is entitled under the provisions of this act shall be a bar to any such action or to a voluntary wage restitution of the full amount due under the provisions of this act.

(4) At the written request of any employee claiming to have been paid less than the wage to which he may be entitled under the provisions of this act, the commission may bring any legal action necessary on behalf of the employee to collect such claim for unpaid wages. The commission shall not be required to pay the filing fee, or other costs, in connection with such action. The commission shall have power to join various claims against the employer in one cause of action.

(5) In proceedings under the provisions of this section, the court may order other affirmative action as appropriate, including reinstatement of employees discharged in violation of the provisions of this act.

(6) The commission shall have power to petition any court of competent jurisdiction to restrain violations of section 3 of this act and for such affirmative relief as the court may deem appropriate, including restoration of unpaid wages and reinstatement of employees, consistent with the purpose of this act.

Sec. 6. Court action under the provisions of this act may be commenced no later than four years after the cause of action accrues.

Sec. 7. Every employer subject to the provisions of this act shall make, keep, and maintain such records of the wages and wage rates, job classifications, and other terms and conditions of employment of the persons employed by him, and shall preserve such records for such periods of time, and shall make such reports therefrom as the commission shall prescribe.

Sec. 8. Every person subject to the provisions of this act shall keep an abstract or copy of this act posted in a conspicuous place in or about the premises wherein any employee is employed. Employers shall be furnished copies of abstracts of this act by the state on request without charge.

Sec. 9. (1) Any person who violates any provision of this act, or who discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because such employee has made any complaint to his employer, the commission, or any other person, or has instituted, or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this act, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(2) Any employer who violates the provisions of this act by failing to keep the records required hereunder, or to furnish such records to the commission upon request, or who falsifies such records, or who hinders, delays, or otherwise interferes with the commission in the performance of its duties in the enforcement of the provisions of this act, or refuses official entry into any place of employment which it is authorized by the provisions of this act to inspect, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.

Sec. 10. That sections 48-1210 to 48-1218, Revised Statutes Supplement, 1967, are repealed.

Sec. 11. Since an emergency exists, this act shall be in full force and take effect, from and after its passage and approval, according to law.

Approved May 5, 1969.