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23-341. Equal wage rates; variations; penalties; enforcement

A. Notwithstanding the other provisions of this chapter, no employer shall pay any person in his employ at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex in the same establishment for the same quantity and quality of the same classification of work, provided, that nothing herein shall prohibit a variation of rates of pay for male and female employees engaged in the same classification of work based upon a difference in seniority, length of service, ability, skill, difference in duties or services performed, whether regularly or occasionally, difference in the shift or time of day worked, hours of work, or restrictions or prohibitions on lifting or moving objects in excess of specified weight, or other reasonable differentiation, factor or factors other than sex, when exercised in good faith.

B. Any employer who violates subsection A of this section is liable to the employee affected in the amount of the wages of which such employee is deprived by reason of such violation.

C. Any affected employee may register with the commission a complaint that the wages paid to such employee are less than the wages to which such employee is entitled under this section.

D. The commission shall take all proceedings necessary to enforce the payment of any sums found to be due and unpaid to such employees.

E. Any employee receiving less than the wage to which such employee is entitled under this section may recover in a civil action the balance of such wages, together with the costs of suit, notwithstanding any agreement to work for a lesser wage.

F. Any action based upon or arising under this section shall be instituted within six months after the date of the alleged violation, but in no event shall any employer be liable for any pay due under this section for more than thirty days prior to receipt by the employer of written notice of claim thereof from the employee.

G. The burden of proof shall be upon the person bringing the claim to establish that the differentiation in rate of pay is based upon the factor of sex and not upon other differences, factor or factors.