Adopted

AMENDMENT NO 2 PROPOSED TO

House Bill No.  770

BY: Senator(s) Wiggins

     Amend by striking all after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

SECTION 1.  This act shall be known and may be cited as "The Mississippi Equal Pay Act."

SECTION 2.  (1)  An employer, including the state or any of its political subdivisions, including public bodies, may not pay any of its employees at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of another sex for equal work within the same establishment on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, education, experience, responsibility, and performance under similar working conditions, except where the payment is made pursuant to any of the following:

          (a)  A seniority system;

          (b)  A merit system;

          (c)  A system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or

          (d)  A differential based on any factor other than sex.

     (2)  Any employer who violates subsection (1) of this section is liable to the employee affected in an amount equal to the wages, and interest thereon, of which the employee is deprived by reason of the violation.

     (3)  An employee who files a claim against his or her employer for a violation of subsection (1) of this section must plead with particularity in demonstrating the following:

          (a)  The employee was paid less than someone for equal work despite possessing equal skill, effort, education, experience, and responsibility; and

          (b)  The applicable wage schedule at issue was or is not correlated to any conditions permissible under subsection (1) of this section.

     (4)  If an employee recovers an amount under subsection (2) of this section, and also files a complaint or brings an action pursuant to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which results in an additional recovery for the same employer conduct for which recovery was had under subsection (2) of this section, the employee shall return to the employer the amount recovered under subsection (2) of this section, or the amount recovered under federal law, whichever is less.

     (5)  A civil action brought under this subsection may be commenced no later than two (2) years from the day the employee knew or should have known his or her employer was in violation of this section.

     SECTION 3.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022, and shall stand repealed on June 30, 2022.

     Further, amend by striking the title in its entirety and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

     AN ACT TO ENACT THE MISSISSIPPI EQUAL PAY ACT; TO PROHIBIT AN EMPLOYER FROM PAYING ANY OF ITS EMPLOYEES AT WAGE RATES LESS THAN THOSE PAID TO EMPLOYEES OF ANOTHER SEX FOR EQUAL WORK UNLESS A WAGE DIFFERENTIAL IS BASED UPON ONE OR MORE SPECIFIED FACTORS; TO PROVIDE A CAUSE OF ACTION AGAINST EMPLOYERS WHO VIOLATE THIS ACT; TO PROVIDE THAT EMPLOYEES WHO RECOVER UNDER THIS ACT AND ALSO RECOVER UNDER A FEDERAL CAUSE OF ACTION FOR THE SAME EMPLOYER CONDUCT SHALL RETURN THE SMALLER OF THE TWO AWARDS TO THE EMPLOYER; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.