
Corning Glass Works v. Brennan
United States Supreme Court
417 U.S. 188 (1974)
Relevant factsFree
Corning (defendant) employed exclusively male inspectors on night shifts (once required by since-repealed state law barring women from night work) and exclusively female inspectors on day shifts, paying night-shift inspectors more; the Secretary of Labor (plaintiff) sued to enjoin the pay differential as an Equal Pay Act violation, and Corning argued that differing shift times made for different "working conditions" justifying the pay gap.
IssueFree
Whether a court may look to legislative history in order to define industry terms of art when interpreting a statute.
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