A Brave New World For Federal Contractors - Are You Prepared For The OFCCP's New Proposed Guidelines for Evaluating Compensation Discrimination?

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the Agency that enforces the federal affirmative action laws, is committed to increasing its enforcement efforts, including efforts in the area of systemic compensation discrimination. Late last year, OFCCP published two proposals in the Federal Register describing: (1) new standards for evaluating systemic compensation discrimination; and (2) guidelines for employer selfevaluation of compensation practices. Since then, the agency has hired five new statisticians and plans to hire several more — one for each of its regions. It also has hired experienced Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) trial attorneys, and has engaged in an awareness campaign announcing the agency’s new approach toward auditing, analyzing, and litigating systemic compensation discrimination. OFCCP is committing significant resources to ferreting out and remedying systemic discrimination. In short — it’s a brave new world — and government contractors need to be prepared.