George P. Shultz, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor v. American Can Company — Dixie Products, a Corporation

HEANEY, Circuit Judge.

We are confronted here with a narrow but important question arising out of the administration of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C.A. § 206(d) (1). Is the American Can Company discriminating against its female machine operators, who work exclusively on the AM-PM shifts, by paying operators on those shifts twenty cents an hour 1 less than males operating identical machines on the night shift?

The Equal Pay Act prohibits an employer from discriminating “between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees * * * at a rate less than the rate at which he pays…