Shultz v. Wheaton Glass Co.

Wheaton Glass Co. (Wheaton) (defendant) paid its female warehouse workers $2.14 per hour, while its male warehouse employees were paid over $2.35 per hour. The government (plaintiff) alleged that Wheaton was violating the Equal Pay Act of 1963, under which employers were prohibited from discriminating between employees by paying higher wages to one sex for equal work, unless the pay differential was shown to be based on some factor other than sex. Wheaton Glass Co. denied that its female warehouse employees performed equal work and, in any event, asserted that the pay differential was based on a factor other than sex. According to the company, male warehouse employees spent approximately 18 percent of their time on average on certain extra tasks that the women were not allowed to perform per their classification by the company under a collective-bargaining agreement with male workers. The extra tasks were sometimes handled by a third category of employees functioning as handymen, who were paid $2.16 per hour. When the handymen did not handle the extra tasks, male warehouse employees performed them. Not all male warehouse employees performed the extra tasks, nor was it established whether female employees could perform the tasks. The district court attributed the male warehouse employees’ higher pay to the fact that the men had to be flexible and perform both their warehouse duties and extra tasks and accordingly found in Wheaton’s favor. The government appealed.