Contractors,Comparable Worth and the New OFCCP: DéjàVu and More

Abstract

Recent federal government initiatives suggest that comparable worth is being resurrected as a major policy initiative. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has introduced the Equal Opportunity Survey, which requires government contractors to provide compensation data broken out by gender and race/ ethnicity for each of the nine equal employment opportunity (EEO) occupational classifications. The compensation data from the survey are already being used to target contractors for audits and represent a new and extended drive to impose comparable worth principles through federal regulations. This article focuses on the EEO Survey and its shortcomings as a source of data for analysis. Legitimate sources of male-female wage differentials are discussed, along with the difficulties that would be encountered in implementing a pay system that would meet traditional comparable worth standards. Methods contractors can use to carry out an internal audit to defend pay discrimination charges related to comparable worth are described.

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