In June 1963 Congress passed the Equal Pay Act. It required that men and women be paid equal wages for equal work in similar jobs in industries engaged in commerce. The Equal Pay Act was appended, or added, to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Both acts excluded farm and domestic workers from its rules. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Equal Pay Act in its ruling in Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp. Later amendments to the Equal Pay Act extended its rule of equal pay for equal work to employees in federally supported programs. The amendments also placed local government agencies and educational institutions under the jurisdiction of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, which had been created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
