Former Feds Says OFCCP’s New Pay Enforcement Policy Too Friendly to Contractors

Some Obama-era officials say OFCCP’s new policy on how federal contractors will be audited for possible pay discrimination hands over too much power to the contractor community. Under the new policy, OFCCP will structure its pay audits based on the “compensation hierarchy and job structure” provided by the contractor. Previously, the agency would conduct its own analyses apart from the contractor’s initial submission. “This Directive includes troubling language that directs the Agency to ‘mirror a contractor’s compensation system’ when a contractor provides its compensation hierarchy,” remarked former OFCCP Director Patricia Shiu. “What constitutes the appropriate and lawful Pay Analysis Groupings or PAGs is often at the heart of pay discrimination cases, and must be subject to a fair and independent review by OFCCP in the first instance.”