In a blog, Making Progress: The Equal Pay Enforcement Program 4 Years Later, Patricia A. Shiu, director of the federal Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), says “the Equal Pay Task Force has clearly identified the need for more and better data to support enforcement, and so we have made addressing that knowledge gap part of our agency’s regulatory agenda.
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“In 2011, we asked stakeholders for input on an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. In a 2013 report, the Equal Pay Task Force identified this as a continuing area of interagency collaboration. In a world where pay secrecy prevents workers from exercising their rights, a compensation data collection tool could provide essential information to help level the playing field.
"We are also engaged in nonregulatory approaches that empower workers with knowledge, like our partnership with the department’s Women’s Bureau and other agencies for the 2012 Equal Pay App Challenge.
"Looking back, there is no doubt the equal pay enforcement program at OFCCP is making progress. Our investigators are better equipped, our agency has new partnerships, our work in this area continues to grow and improve. And that progress is important, because the gender pay gap has real consequences for workers and their families.
"So we will continue pushing forward. We will continue to enforce the laws that require fair pay without discrimination. And we will ask contractors to partner with us on the progress still to come."
Read more from Patricia Shiu’s blog on our related article.