[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 4]
[Revised as of July 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1620.33]

[Page 322]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
          CHAPTER XIV--EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
 
PART 1620_THE EQUAL PAY ACT--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1620.33  Recovery of wages due; injunctions; penalties for willful violations.

    (a) Wages withheld in violation of the Act have the status of unpaid 
minimum wages or unpaid overtime compensation under the FLSA. This is 
true both of the additional wages required by the Act to be paid to an 
employee to meet the equal pay standard, and of any wages that the 
employer should have paid an employee whose wages he reduced in 
violation of the Act in an attempt to equalize his or her pay with that 
of an employee of the opposite sex performing equal work, on jobs 
subject to the Act.
    (b) The following methods are provided under sections 16 and 17 of 
the FLSA for recovery of unpaid wages: The Commission may supervise 
payment of the back wages and may bring suit for back pay and an equal 
amount as liquidated damages. The employee may sue for back pay and an 
additional sum, up to the amount of back pay, as liquidated damages, 
plus attorney's fees and court costs. The employee may not bring suit if 
he or she has been paid back wages in full under supervision of the 
Commission, or if the Commission has filed suit under the Act to collect 
the wages due the employee. The Commission may also obtain a court 
injunction to restrain any person from violating the law, including the 
unlawful withholding by an employer of proper compensation. A 2-year 
statute of limitations applies to the recovery of unpaid wages, except 
that an action on a cause of action arising out of a willful violation 
may be commenced within 3 years after the cause of action accrued.
    (c) Willful violations of the Act may be prosecuted criminally and 
the violator fined up to $10,000. A second conviction for such a 
violation may result in imprisonment.
    (d) Violation of any provision of the Act by any person, including 
any labor organization or agent thereof, is unlawful, as provided in 
section 15(a) of the FLSA. Accordingly, any labor organization, or agent 
thereof, who violates any provision of the Act is subject to injunction 
proceedings in accordance with the applicable provisions of section 17 
of the FLSA. Any such labor organization, or agent thereof, who 
willfully violates the provisions of section 15 is liable to the 
penalties set forth in section 16(a) of the FLSA.

[46 FR 4888, Jan. 19, 1981. Redesignated at 51 FR 29819, Aug. 20, 1986]