29 CFR § 1620.22 - Employment cost not a “factor other than sex.”

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t29/s1620.22"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "29 CFR § 1620.22 - Employment cost not a “factor other than sex.”"
title_number: 29
title_name: "Labor"
section_number: "1620.22"
section_name: "Employment cost not a “factor other than sex.”"
chapter_name: "EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION"
part_number: "1620"
part_name: "THE EQUAL PAY ACT"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "Sec. 1-19, 52 Stat. 1060, as amended; sec. 10, 61 Stat. 84; Pub. L. 88-38, 77 Stat. 56 (29 U.S.C. 201 ); sec. 1, Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1978, 43 FR 19807; E.O. 12144, 44 FR 37193."
regulatory_source: "51 FR 29819, Aug. 20, 1986, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "1620"
---


# 1620.22 Employment cost not a “factor other than sex.”

A wage differential based on claimed differences between the average cost of employing workers of one sex as a group and the average cost of employing workers of the opposite sex as a group is discriminatory and does not qualify as a differential based on any “factor other than sex,” and will result in a violation of the equal pay provisions, if the equal pay standard otherwise applies.