At a White House Middle Class Task Force forum today, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announced new initiatives aimed at addressing pay equity and wage discrimination.
Of particular interest to Federal contractors was the announcement that OFCCP will be publishing an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in early 2011 to seek input on how to improve the Equal Opportunity Survey.
In related news, President Obama today called on the U.S. Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. The Senate bill includes a provision to reinstate the Equal Opportunity Survey and would expand OFCCP's ability to investigate and enforce identified pay discrimination against women.
If the Paycheck Fairness Act were to be defeated- or passed with altered language removing the EO Survey provision- OFCCP could still reinstate the survey, but the agency would be forced to go through a more lengthy rulemaking and approval process to do so.
by Fred Satterwhite, Senior Consultant, DCI Consulting Group