Changes in the Act will increase the difficulty employers face in justifying pay differentials.

On October 6, 2015, Governor Brown signed into law the California Fair Pay Act. The California Fair Pay Act amends Labor Code Section 1197.5 to expand the reach of California’s fair pay law, and will take effect on January 1, 2016. California has prohibited gender-based wage discrimination since 1949, and has provided protections virtually identical to the Federal Equal Pay Act of 1963. Under the new law, California law will provide broader protections to employees by both expanding the scope of jobs that may be compared and narrowing the criteria that an employer may cite to justify discrepancies. The new law also shifts the burden of proof. An employee no longer has to prove that a pay disparity is unlawful. Instead, employers now have to prove that pay disparities are justified.