Getting Paid Less Because You’re a Woman Sucks—And It’s Illegal, So Here’s How To Fight Back

When Robin Wright and Emmy Rossum got outraged at earning less than their male costars did on House of Cards and Shameless, it was a reminder that the gender pay gap is alive and well, and still sneakily cheating women. And we should all be outraged. It’s illegal for an employer to pay a woman less than a man for essentially doing the same work under, not one, but two federal laws—Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Pay Act (EPA)—but that doesn’t mean the pay gap has closed. Even today, plenty of women aren’t receiving equal compensation for doing the same work a man does and are uncertain about how to address the problem. If you think you’re being discriminated against, here’s what to do:

Gather evidence.
Even if you only suspect you’re being paid unfairly, it’s enough to start with—the sites at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the American Association of University Women (AAUW) have a lot of great information about how to get started on building your case. Obviously, concrete evidence is better. Try to get whatever you can to document that a male colleague is doing similar work as you but is being paid more for it or is being promoted faster—like a copy of an offer letter, a pay stub, performance evaluations, job descriptions, or email chains—“without going hunting in areas of the company that you don’t have legitimate access too, because that’s trouble and is never a good idea,” says Anne Shaver, a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, who specializes in employment discrimination cases.

Talk to your employer (if you feel comfortable doing so).
Should you first go to your boss or HR? “That’s a gut check every woman has to do based on what she knows about the company—like the CEO’s stance on gender discrimination or the scuttlebutt around the building on other folks who’ve been through the same thing,” says Lisa Maatz, vice president of government relations and advocacy at the AAUW. “HR can be a good first step. While sometimes pay disparity is absolutely discriminatory against women, other times it has just been built into the system and really is inadvertent. In the best-case scenario, you go to HR or your supervisor, and they see the error of their ways and fix it—and they do a company-wide equal pay audit to address all other unintentional disparities.” The thing to remember though, she cautions, is that “the HR person is not your confidante; though ostensibly there to help you, they represent the company.”

Start an investigation.
The EEOC is definitely interested in your story, and you can go directly to them and file a charge (you can do it at a local field office or by mail). They will notify your company of your claim and investigate, although it can take a frustratingly long time (10 months on average). “Even if all you have is hearsay, we have the ability to find out more,” says EEOC spokesperson Christine Saah Nazer. But don’t procrastinate: For Title VII claims, you have to file within 180 to 300 days of your last paycheck or other discriminatory act.

An alternative route is to start by contacting a lawyer who specializes in sex discrimination and employment—many will offer a free consultation. The attorney can give you an idea of how solid your clam is, and if it’s worth hiring a lawyer. Depending on the case, she might agree to represent you for a percentage of the award. A lawyer can also help you navigate the EEOC investigation.

Consider trying to settle.
When you file with the EEOC, they typically work to get your company to resolve the disparity before considering legal action. A private lawyer may do the same, according to Shaver, sending what’s called a demand letter, which says something like: “We’re considering filing an EEOC charge. Let us know if you want to discuss settling this claim informally before we go ahead.”

Sometimes you have to settle—that is, if your employer made you sign a mandatory arbitration agreement, a practice that’s becoming more common. Both Shaver and Maatz argue that these agreements pose a serious problem because they mean that any work dispute must be resolved outside of the justice system. “They take away your right to your day in court,” says Shaver, “and the arbitrators are heavily skewed in favor of the employers.” Maatz adds: “They’re often hired by the company! So the whole notion of getting a fair deal goes out the window. It’s a huge situation.”

Go to Court.
If the EEOC or your own attorney believes your employer has broken the law, they will suggest whether to sue under the EPA (which strictly prohibits pay discrimination based on sex) or Title VII (which covers broader workplace discrimination, including race, and only applies to companies with 15 or more employees; this also requires first filing an EEOC charge). Many women end up suing under both.

Sometimes the EEOC will bring a lawsuit itself against your company, but they have limited resources. Last year they received 1,075 gender pay discrimination charges—which although only the tip of the iceberg, is still a lot to handle. “We do have to prioritize,” says Bria Gillum, a senior attorney-advisor at the agency, explaining that they gravitate toward cases that will make a big impact, for example “where there are a lot of people involved or you have a unique or novel legal issue.” When the agency does not take your case, they will issue a right to sue, and you can hire a lawyer if you don’t already have one.

Going forward, whatever you do, make sure to get support from friends, family, or an advocacy group. These cases are notoriously stressful. The defense may unfortunately try to uncover as much dirt as possible about you—a history of personal relationships in the office, information about your performance, etc. It often takes the form of an attack on your character. If you’re still working at your job while going through this, it’s especially difficult. “There are provisions against retaliation that are supposed to protect you,” notes Maatz. “Now I say supposed to, because you can have plenty of micro-aggressions that don’t make their way to court but can make your life miserable.”

The Verdict?
If the judge decides in your favor, you can be awarded compensatory damages for back pay, lost wages, and physical and emotional distress (which is partly why Maatz suggests seeing a doctor throughout the process for any stress-related symptoms like headaches or insomnia). There can also be punitive damages against the company—hopefully a deterrent against future bad conduct. “I really have admiration for my clients,” says Shaver, “because they’re not just standing up for themselves, they’re standing up for all women.” Right? The surest way to stop employers from treating us unequally is to fight back, even if we have to do it paycheck by paycheck, company by company.