First Equal Pay Act in Mississippi
Mississippi’s newly enacted Equal Pay Act (“Act”) is effective on July 1, 2022, affording largely the same protections to Mississippi employees as provided by the federal Equal Pay Act of 1963, which federally requires that virtually all private employers engaged in interstate commerce or the handling of goods that have moved in interstate commerce pay men and women equally for doing the same work. The Act aims to reduce the wage gap/difference between men and women by providing that claims concerning gender-based pay discrimination may now be brought in Mississippi state court, but also provides that the same claims may not be simultaneously brought under both the Act and its federal counterpart. Here’s what Mississippi employers need to know.
