A federal court ruled last Thursday that employers can legally pay women employees less than men when it's based on previous salary history. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous court ruling that established that pay differences based exclusively on prior salaries were discriminatory under legal protection created by the federal Equal Pay Act. This previous ruling also overturned the opinion of U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Seng, who said in a 2015 decision that women's earlier salaries are likely to be lower than men's specifically because of gender bias. READ MORE