Paula Negley v. Judicial Council of California

MEMORANDUM

Paula Negley appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment against her on her claims under the California and federal Equal Pay Acts (EPA) and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Negley contends that the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) violated the EPA and FEHA by paying a male co-worker more than her for equal work. Negley also claims that AOC violated FEHA by terminating her and taking other adverse actions against her in retaliation for filing internal complaints and her EPA lawsuit. The district court rejected both claims. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

I.

A prima facie unequal pay claim under the EPA or FEHA requires the plaintiff to provide evidence that her employer (1) paid an individual of the opposite sex more than her (2) for substantially equal work. See Stanley v. Univ. of S. California, 178 F.3d 1069, 1074 (9th Cir.1999); Green v. Par Pools Inc., 111 Cal.App.4th 620, 628 , 3 Cal.Rptr.3d 844 (Cal.Ct.App.2003) (holding that the California EPA is substantively identical to its federal counterpart). If the plaintiff succeeds in establishing a prima facie unequal pay claim, the burden shifts to…