No. 19-30

Zoe Spencer v. Virginia State University, et al.

Lower Court: Fourth Circuit
Docketed: 2019-07-03
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Tags: bona-fide-job-evaluation circuit-split civil-rights equal-pay-act job-evaluation prior-salary salary-discrimination seventh-amendment summary-judgment title-vii
Key Terms:
Environmental Arbitration ERISA SocialSecurity EmploymentDiscrimina WageAndHour JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2019-10-11
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether and under what circumstances prior salary may constitute 'any other factor other than sex' under the Equal Pay Act

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED The United States Courts of Appeals diverge on , whether and under what circumstances prior salary may coristitute “any other factor other than sex” under the fourth “catch all” exception of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d)(1) and, correspondingly, under the Bennett Amendment § 703(h) to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2 (a)(1). Despite this divergence, nearly all circuits that allow wage differentials, based upon the prior salary exception, adhere to this Court’s precedent that salary differentials be related to bona fide job evaluation systems. See, Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, 417 . US. 188, 201, 94 S.Ct. 2223 (1974). In the Fourth ; Circuit’s opinion below, “prior service” or rather the ; ; prior salary equation, as “a factor other than sex,” ; : upon which the opinion relied, was not based upon a bona fide job evaluation system Jd.; and thus, defied this Court’s authority in Corning and exacerbated the entrenched circuit split in a manner that pro‘spectively undermines the legislative intent of the Equal Pay Act. In furtherance of resolving the “prior salary ; question” presented to this Court in a recent petition for a writ of certiorari, Yovino v. Rizo, 586 U.S. __ ; (2019) per curiam, and addressing the Fourth Circuit’s impingement upon the Seventh Amendment, the ques. : tions presented are: . 1. Is prior salary a factor other than sex? If so: 2. Whether the Equal Pay Act intends prior salary, ; as a “catchall exception,” to be excluded from bona ii : : fide job related systems and the other three statutory exceptions. 3. Whether the Petitioner’s Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial was violated when the Fourth : ; Circuit misapprehended summary judgment standards in light of Supreme Court precedent.

Docket Entries

2019-10-15
Petition DENIED.
2019-09-18
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/11/2019.
2019-09-13
Reply of petitioner Zoe Spencer filed.
2019-09-03
Brief of respondents Virginia State University, et al. in opposition filed.
2019-07-16
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 3, 2019.
2019-07-12
Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 2, 2019 to September 3, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
2019-06-28
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 2, 2019)

Attorneys

Virginia State University, et al.
Toby Jay HeytensOffice of the Attorney General, Respondent
Toby Jay HeytensOffice of the Attorney General, Respondent
Elizabeth M. EbanksOgletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., Respondent
Elizabeth M. EbanksOgletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., Respondent
Zoe Spencer
Zoe Spencer — Petitioner
Zoe Spencer — Petitioner