In 1981, the Supreme Court of the United States determined with respect to County of Washington v. Gunther that the Bennett Amendment explicitly incorporated only limited defenses to unequal pay and did not otherwise bar suits based on a comparison of payment for different jobs.
"[6] Paul noted that the question is pivotal to resolving the Comparable Worth Debate since if it is interpreted to incorporate the entirety of the Equal Pay Act's standards, it becomes impossible to prove a "comparable worth" suit by defining two different jobs in a scale of importance and determining by it how to judge equal pay.
[7] The Supreme Court of the United States first examined the question of the impact of the Bennett Amendment in the 1981 case County of Washington v. Gunther, 452 U.S.
[9] Justice Brennan, speaking for the Court, indicated that the Bennett Amendment did not preclude comparison of differences in pay but only those attributable to those four specific factors.
[10] The Court did not determine how jobs might be properly compared, and one of the primary opponents of the majority opinion was soon-to-be Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist.