[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 4]
[Revised as of July 1, 2006]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1620.11]

[Page 312]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
          CHAPTER XIV--EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
 
PART 1620_THE EQUAL PAY ACT--Table of Contents
 
Sec.  1620.11  Fringe benefits.

    (a) ``Fringe benefits'' includes, e.g., such terms as medical, 
hospital, accident, life insurance and retirement benefits; profit 
sharing and bonus plans; leave; and other such concepts.
    (b) It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate between men and 
women performing equal work with regard to fringe benefits. Differences 
in the application of fringe benefit plans which are based upon sex-
based actuarial studies cannot be justified as based on ``any other 
factor other than sex.''
    (c) Where an employer conditions benefits available to employees and 
their spouses and families on whether the employee is the ``head of the 
household'' or ``principal wage earner'' in the family unit, the overall 
implementation of the plan will be closely scrutinized.
    (d) It is unlawful for an employer to make available benefits for 
the spouses or families of employees of one gender where the same 
benefits are not made available for the spouses or families of opposite 
gender employees.
    (e) It shall not be a defense under the EPA to a charge of sex 
discrimination in benefits that the cost of such benefits is greater 
with respect to one sex than the other.
    (f) It is unlawful for an employer to have a pension or retirement 
plan which, with respect to benefits, establishes different optional or 
compulsory retirement ages based on sex or which otherwise 
differentiates in benefits on the basis of sex.

[51 FR 29816, Aug. 20, 1986; 51 FR 32636, Sept. 15, 1986]