The key issue is what skills the job requires, not what skills the individual employees may have. A waitress with a master's degree is not entitled to more pay than a waitress without a master's degree. Effort refers to the amount of physical or mental exertion needed to perform the job. For example, the job of the person at the end of an assembly line who must lift the assembled product and place it on a board requires more effort than the other assembly line jobs. If the extra effort of lifting the assembled product off the line is substantial and is a regular part of the job, increased pay for that position is justified.
Responsibility is the degree of accountability required in performing the job.
For example, a salesperson who is delegated the duty of determining whether to accept customers' personal checks has more responsibility than other salespeople. On the other hand, a minor difference in responsibility, such as assignment of the task of locking up at the end of the day, would not justify a pay differential. For the Equal Pay Act to apply, the jobs must also be performed under similar working conditions. This does not refer to different shifts or departments. A violation of the EPA can occur where a different wage is paid to a person who worked in the same job before or after an employee of the opposite sex.