Heather has worked for ten years as an engineering supervisor. She has recently learned that her salary had always been lower than the salaries of male engineering supervisors with similar lengths of company service. Her company has a policy of pay secrecy that prohibits employees from discussing compensation. How would the court rule on a discrimination claim after such a long of a period of time has passed since the pay discrimination began?

A) She has no claim since the 180-day time limit for filing discrimination claims has passed.
B) She can claim discrimination only for time that has passed since the filing of her discrimination claim.
C) She can claim discrimination for the entire period that her pay was lower than the pay of her male peers.
D) She has no valid discrimination claim and can be fired for violating the company's pay secrecy policy.
E) Her discrimination claim is negated by the company's pay secrecy policy and she must accept binding arbitration to resolve her pay dispute with the company.

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Abraham Gonzalez · Accepted Answer

Final Answer : C, Explanation :  The court would rule that she can claim discrimination for the entire period that her pay was lower than the pay of her male peers, despite the length of time that has passed. Pay secrecy policies cannot be used to prevent employees from talking about their compensation, and therefore cannot be used to prevent employees from discovering and challenging pay discrimination. The 180-day time limit for filing discrimination claims does not apply in cases of ongoing discrimination, and statutes of limitations for pay discrimination claims can be extended to cover the full period that the discrimination occurred.

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