Equal Pay Act and the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant - Essay Example

The application of the Equal pay Act comes into play straightforwardly when the underlying pay practices are overtly discriminatory. Thus, the narrow issues within the fact pattern are skills, responsibility, and effort. This comparison ought to be made factor by a factor with an existing opposite comparator. Therefore, the formation of the prima facie case under the Equal Pay Act fundamentally hinges on the underlying selection of a proper comparator (Twomey, 2010). For instance, in this case, John would be a proper comparator to Jena under the Equal Pay Act. This is because Jena was employed to handle complex accounting problems which required similar skills and responsibilities. Moreover, Jeevan had more responsibilities than John (Johnson & Everhart, 2011).

Under these prevailing facts, the court will observe that Jena meets her burden of depicting that she undertook work substantially equivalent in skill, effort, and responsibility under working conditions similar to the Johns. Indeed, Jena undertook more than that she and John are paid different salaries. Therefore, she can put forth an adequate prima facie case under the Equal Pay Act.

The outcome of the case falls firmly in the Fourth Circuit’s mainly established jurisprudence about Equal Pay Act (Snell & Bohlander, 2013). In such cases, Fourth Circuit has analyzed an Equal Pay Act claim within the higher education context. The court has affirmed either a grant of summary judgment or corresponding dismissal of the action based on the plaintiff’s failure to establish a prima facie (Twomey, 2010). Similarly, in cases where the prevailing plaintiff has identified a specific comparator, but the comparison is an unsuitable one thus the Fourth Circuit must immediately uphold the summary of the judgment. In case Jena fails to establish a prima facie claim under the Act then it would be cumbersome for a plaintiff in an Equal Pay Act action in the company.

In case a plaintiff in this case adequately established a prima facie case of salary discrimination under the Equal Pay Act, the burden shifts to the employer to prove by a preponderance of the underlying evidence, that the pay differential is justified by the existence of one the four exceptions set forth within the statue: (1) a seniority system;(2) a merit system;(3) a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of the prevailing production or (4) a differential based on the affirmative defenses is successfully carried by the prevailing employer (Twomey, 2010). Thus, the plaintiff’s claim ought to fail unless the plaintiff reasonably disproves the defendant’s evidence (Johnson & Everhart, 2011).

Question Set Two

The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant (SNPP) classifies Smithers as an exempt employee under the FLSA since he is paid $ 500 which is subjected to deduction (Snell & Bohlander, 2013). This purely falls under section 13(a) (1) of the FLSA, which normally offers an exemption from both minimum wages. FSLA salary basis of the SNPP solely applies to reductions in monetary amounts and demands workers to be charged in cases of absences from work thus leaving the accruals. However, the monetary amount of Smithers's paycheck remains identical.

In case Smithers was properly categorized as an exempt salaried employee, SNPP would be at risk under the prevailing FLSA (Twomey, 2010). This is base pay in FLSA regarding the salary basis stipulating that the underlying salary basis worker must not be reduced based on the quality or the quantity of work undertaken provided that the worker executes some work within the work period. That is the base pay ought not to be less than the normal as in the case of SNPP which deducts the salary of Smithers in case there is some delay in executing the task (Snell & Bohlander, 2013).

Question Set Three
Compensable time Dwight worked every week mainly entailed overtime, meal periods, training, on-call time, travel time, and record-keeping or tracking absences. Moreover, the compensable time will entail taking clients’ lunch, receiving phone calls for the company, following up on the sales calls, and attending the weekly sales meeting at Poor Richard’s Pub. Dwight also commutes to work every day while contacting customers as well as coordinating afternoon sales call (Twomey, 2010).
Calculation of the regular rate of pay applicable to Dwight on average weekly
Monday: 7-5:00 + 30 min for meal
Weekly pay for Dwight= $800(depicting $20 per hour for 40hrs)
Commission check=$1000 per month

Discretionary bonuses=$2000(last year)
Monday and Wednesday: clients to lunch (1 hour)
Assuming that Dwight does not quality outside sales, their last stop every day is similar from home as the Dunder Mifflin office and his meal at the desk is not interrupted, the average weekly rate of pay applicable to him will:
Total hours worked in the work= 10hours+9hours+25.5hours
= 44.5 hours
Therefore, the average weekly rate of pay= is $800/44.5
= $17.98 per hour