(JTA) — Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that employers paying men and women different wages must prove that those differences are not due to gender.
The court’s decision stems from a case that began with a woman who was earning 70 percent of the wage of a male colleague at a hardware store chain, the Associated Press reported. Her employer said the woman had requested a lower salary when she applied for the job.
The ruling shifts the burden of proof for gender discrimination to the employer, according Dana Naor-Mande’el, legal adviser to the Israeli Women’s Lobby, which brought the suit.
“An employer cannot hide behind the fact that a woman asked for less money,” she said, according to AP.
Israeli women earn about two-thirds as much as Israeli men, according to a 2009 figure.
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