In the summer of 2014, OFCCP released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for collecting compensation data through an Equal Pay Report (EPR) as part of their initiative to combat pay discrimination. The EPR was slated to be final in November of 2015, as listed in the spring 2015 agenda, but was recently listed in the fall 2015 agenda with an expected date of May 2016. Although it may seem that OFCCP is just running behind schedule, it is interesting to note that a different proposed rule is in final draft form and currently at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This rule, which revises the existing Sex Discrimination Guidelines, is right on schedule. Given that the EPR is not moving along the pipeline, it is likely that the final rule, even if published in May 2016, will not be effective during the current administration. If so, history may repeat itself and the EPR may be eliminated by a new administration the same way the Equal Opportunity Survey was back in 2006.
Furthermore, a final EPR requirement seems even less likely given EEOC’s current efforts for a separate pay data collection tool. We believe the EEOC is continuing the work to develop a method of pay data collection that would be in conjunction with the annual EEO-1 and related filing requirements. For more information on the pilot study of this data collection and historical background, we recommend reviewing this DCI blog. It is anticipated that the new data collection guidance will be final in the fall 2016. Based on this, it would be reasonable to expect that this new information would be required for the 2017 EEO-1 filings.
Only time will tell what the fate of the EPR will be, as well as the outcome of EEOC’s efforts. Stay tuned.
By Amanda Shapiro, Senior Consultant, and Yesenia Avila, Associate Consultant at DCI Consulting Group
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