by Art Gutman Ph.D., Professor, Florida Institute of Technology
Lorraine McCarthy, staff writer for BNA, reported on May 17, 2010 that the OFCCP has charged AstraZeneca PLC with violating Executive Order 11246 in an administrative complaint filed on May 3, 2010. The OFCCP claims that AstraZeneca underpaid female Level III pharmaceutical sales specialists as compared to male counterparts at its Wayne, Pa., facility. According to the OFCCP, the salary disparity “remains after adjusting for differences in legitimate pay-determining factors.” The OFCCP is demanding that the company identify and provide relief to affected employees, including lost wages, interest, front pay, salary adjustments, fringe benefits, seniority, and all other employment benefits under the threat of cancellation of existing federal contracts and debarment from entering into future contracts.
For its part, AstraZeneca claims that statistical results by an independent expert shows there are “no statistically significant gender-based difference in salary between employees in Career Ladder Level 3, or any other position, in the AstraZeneca workforce.”
Stay tuned, this might turn out to be a hot one.
