Opinion ID: 705166
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Seiler's Affirmative Defense

Text: 74 In response to Tomka's assertions, Seiler justifies Abrams' and the three account managers' higher salaries by alleging that the discrepancies resulted from factors other than sex. 10 Seiler contended, and the district court agreed, that Abrams' higher salary resulted from the fact that he had over ten years of experience with a Seiler competitor. While Abrams' experience may very well explain the discrepancy, Seiler has the burden of persuasion to show both that it based Abrams' higher salary on this factor and that experience is a job-related qualification for the position in question. See id. at 527. Seiler's mere assertion that Abrams' salary was based on his experience is insufficient to meet this burden, and the district court therefore erred in holding that Seiler had established its factor other than sex affirmative defense. 75 As to the account managers, Seiler has also not proved that it based their higher wages on factors other than sex. Seiler claims to consider a variety of factors in determining the salaries for its managers, including experience, education, work and salary history, salary requested, job performance and position applied for. See Snook Aff. at p 6. However, Seiler has neither particularized how each of these factors explains the salary discrepancy between Tomka and the three account managers nor demonstrated how any of these factors are job-related to the positions in question. At the most, Seiler's evidence merely raises a fact issue as to whether all or any of these factors can explain and justify the wage differentials between Tomka and the account managers. 11 76 In sum, it is for the fact finder to determine if Tomka was paid less for equal work, and, if so, whether Seiler has established that the salary differentials were legitimately based on factors other than sex. Accordingly, the district court improperly dismissed Tomka's EPA claim as to Abrams, Barr, Dwyer and Jones.