The California Fair Pay Act requires your employer to pay you the same as colleagues of a different sex, race, or ethnicity who do substantially similar work, and it puts the burden on the employer to justify any gap. The law lives in Labor Code Section 1197.5. If a gap exists and the employer can’t justify it with one of four specific defenses, you can recover the unpaid wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, along with interest and attorney’s fees. As of January 1, 2026, you have three years to file (four if the violation was willful), with up to six years of back pay available.
What Your Employer Has to Do
The rule is simple to state and hard for employers to escape. You cannot be paid less than someone of a different sex, race, or ethnicity for substantially similar work unless your employer can affirmatively prove the gap rests on a legitimate factor and that the factor accounts for the entire difference.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 1197.5
“Substantially similar” is a composite judgment about skill, effort, and responsibility performed under similar working conditions. Job titles don’t control it, and the two jobs don’t have to match on every detail. The 2015 Fair Pay Act (SB 358) also removed the old requirement that your comparator work at the same physical location, so you can compare yourself to a higher-paid colleague at a different facility of the same employer.2California Legislative Information. SB 358 Conditions of Employment: Gender Wage Differential
Who and What Is Covered
The protections cover sex, race, and ethnicity. Starting in 2026, “sex” carries the same meaning as under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, which includes gender identity and gender expression.3California Legislative Information. SB 642 The law applies to essentially every employer in California, public or private, regardless of size.
“Wages” is defined broadly. Under SB 642, it explicitly includes salary, overtime, bonuses, stock and stock options, profit-sharing, life insurance, vacation and holiday pay, allowances for gasoline and cleaning, hotel accommodations, travel reimbursements, and benefits.3California Legislative Information. SB 642 A gap buried in bonuses or equity grants is just as actionable as one in base pay.
When a Pay Difference Is Legally Allowed
An employer can pay different wages for substantially similar work only if it can prove the gap rests on one or more of four factors:1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 1197.5
- A seniority system that rewards length of service.
- A merit system tied to documented performance evaluations.
- A production-based system measuring earnings by quantity or quality of output.
- A bona fide factor other than sex, race, or ethnicity, such as education, training, or experience. This factor must be job-related and consistent with a business necessity, and the defense fails if you can point to an alternative practice that would serve the same purpose without producing the gap.
Whichever factors the employer relies on, they have to be applied reasonably and have to account for the entire wage difference, not just part of it. Partial justification is not a defense.
Prior Salary Alone Does Not Justify a Gap
Section 1197.5 explicitly states that prior salary cannot by itself justify any pay disparity.4California Department of Industrial Relations. California Equal Pay Act An employer may consider what a current employee already earns when making a compensation decision, but any resulting gap still has to be justified by one of the four factors above. “That’s what she was making at her last job” is not a defense.
Your Right to Talk About Pay
Your employer cannot stop you from disclosing your own wages, discussing what coworkers earn, asking a colleague about their pay, or encouraging a coworker to do the same.2California Legislative Information. SB 358 Conditions of Employment: Gender Wage Differential If you’re fired, demoted, or otherwise retaliated against for exercising these rights or filing a claim, you can bring a civil action for reinstatement, lost wages and benefits with interest, and other equitable relief.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 1197.5 The retaliation claim is independent of the underlying pay claim, so an employer that pays you fairly but punishes you for asking questions is still liable.
Pay Scale Disclosure and Salary History
Labor Code Section 432.3 prohibits employers from asking job applicants about their salary history, verbally or in writing, and from relying on prior compensation to decide whether to hire or what to offer.4California Department of Industrial Relations. California Equal Pay Act
On disclosure, any employer must provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant who reasonably requests it, and to any current employee who asks for the pay scale of their own role. Employers with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale in every job posting, including those made through third-party recruiters.5California Legislative Information. SB 1162 “Pay scale” is the salary or hourly wage range the employer reasonably expects to pay. Violations carry civil penalties of $100 to $10,000 per violation, though a first posting violation can be cured without penalty if the employer updates all its listings.
What You Can Recover
If you prove a violation, you get the full amount of unpaid wages plus interest, and an equal amount in liquidated damages. You can also recover attorney’s fees and court costs.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 1197.5
The doubling is automatic. You don’t have to prove the employer acted in bad faith, and the court has no discretion to reduce it. That’s one of the sharpest differences from the federal Equal Pay Act, where employers can avoid liquidated damages by showing good faith.
Filing Deadlines
Under SB 642, effective January 1, 2026, you can file a civil action within three years after the violation last occurred. If the violation was willful, the deadline extends to four years.3California Legislative Information. SB 642
Once you file, you can recover for the entire period the violation existed, up to a maximum of six years of back pay. A new cause of action arises each time you receive a paycheck reflecting the discriminatory rate, so an older pay decision doesn’t become immune just because years have passed since it was made.3California Legislative Information. SB 642
How to File a Claim
You have two routes, and you can pick either. You can file an administrative complaint with the Labor Commissioner’s Office (the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement), or you can go directly to court. There is no requirement to exhaust the administrative process before suing.4California Department of Industrial Relations. California Equal Pay Act
Filing with the Labor Commissioner
To file administratively, complete the Equal Pay Act Complaint form (EPA-1) available through the DLSE.6California Department of Industrial Relations. Instructions and Guide for Filing an Equal Pay Act Complaint The form asks for your wage information, the wages of the person you’re comparing yourself to, and a description of how your work is substantially similar.7California Department of Industrial Relations. Equal Pay Act Complaint Incomplete forms delay processing, so answer every question. Your name stays confidential until the Labor Commissioner establishes the complaint’s validity, unless disclosure becomes necessary to investigate.
Building Your Evidence
Before you file, gather what you can. Your own pay stubs and job description are the starting point. Information about your comparator’s pay and duties, if you can obtain it lawfully, strengthens the claim considerably. Internal emails, performance reviews, offer letters, and any written communications about pay scales or compensation decisions all help. The complaint form asks you to identify a comparator and the relevant protected category, so be ready with both.
How It Compares to the Federal Equal Pay Act
The federal Equal Pay Act also addresses pay discrimination, but California’s law is stronger on nearly every point.8U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Equal Pay/Compensation Discrimination
- Federal law covers only sex. California covers sex, race, and ethnicity.
- Federal law requires “substantially equal” work. California uses the broader “substantially similar” standard.
- Federal law generally compares workers at the same establishment. California removed that limit.
- Under federal law, employers can invoke any “factor other than sex.” California requires that factor to be job-related, consistent with a business necessity, and not itself derived from a protected-class differential.
- Both laws allow doubled back pay, but federal law lets employers avoid the doubling by proving good faith. California’s doubling is automatic.
- Federal law gives you two years to sue, or three for willful violations. California, as of 2026, gives you three years, or four for willful violations, with up to six years of recoverable back pay.
- California explicitly bans using prior salary to justify a gap. Federal law has no equivalent.
The two laws are independent, so you can pursue claims under both at once. Under the federal EPA, you can go directly to court without filing an EEOC charge first, just as you can skip the Labor Commissioner under California law.