Sex Discrimination in Group Pensions

Abstract

Recent judicial and regulatory developments have made it very clear that sex status alone cannot serve as a basis for treating women workers differently from their male counterparts. While rigid enforcement of sex discrimination laws on an individual basis is required, employers are often confused about whether civil rights laws allow them to make any distinctions between men and women on a group basis. A case in point concerns the ability of employers to differentiate between males and females in planning and administering employee pension retirement plans. This is an issue because, statistically, women as a group outlive men. The legal issue the mortality differential raises is whether an employer who treats women workers differently from their male counterparts for retirement plan purposes is guilty of sex discrimination. It is the purpose of this chapter to explore the legality of sex differentials in retirement plans as a vehicle for illustrating broader issues of workplace sex discrimination.*