Is an employee’s waiver of the statutory limitation period for an Equal Pay Act enforceable? “No” answered the Sixth Circuit recently in Boaz v FedEx Customer Information Services, Inc, No 12-5319 (August 6, 2013), reversing a district court's judgment.
Boaz started working for FedEx in 1997 and signed an employment agreement including the following provision: "To the extent the law allows an employee to bring legal action against Federal Express Corporation, I agree to bring that complaint within the time prescribed by law or 6 months from the date of the event forming the basis of my lawsuit, whichever occurs first." Subsequently, Boaz filed suit against FedEx asserting claims for overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Equal Pay Act, pointing out that she was paid considerably less than her male predecessor in the job. Although Boaz filed suit well within the limitations period in the statutes, she did so more than six months after her claims accrued and the district court (Magistrate Judge Diane K. Vescovo of the Western District of Tennessee) granted summary judgment to FedEx on the limitations period issue.
The Sixth Circuit reversed and began by analyzing whether Boaz’s waiver of her FLSA claims was valid, concluding that it was not as discussed in an earlier post, Agreement To Shorten Limitations Period for Wage and Overtime Claims Not Enforceable, Sixth Circuit Rules. This same analysis applied to the Equal Pay Act as to the FLSA because in 1963 amended the FLSA with the Equal Pay Act. First, since “Congress is [presumed to be] aware of the law (including judicial precedent) relevant to legislation it enacts … by folding the Equal Pay Act into the FLSA, Congress meant for claims under the Equal Pay Act to be unwaivable as well.” Second, similar to an employer that fails to pay overtime in violation of the FLSA, “an employer who pays women less than a lawful wage might gain the same competitive advantage as an employer who pays less than minimum wage.”
