On August 11, 2008, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report critical of the enforcement of pay discrimination laws by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). The report entitled, "Women's Earnings: Federal Agencies Should Better Monitor Their Performance in Enforcing Anti-Discrimination Laws," analyzed the equal employment opportunity laws enforced by the EEOC and OFCCP that are intended to prohibit discrimination on the basis of compensation, among other prohibited bases. Noting that in 2000, the gender wage gap was 80 percent, and that a portion of that gap was due to discrimination, GAO examined "(1) how EEOC enforces laws addressing gender pay disparities among private sector employers and provides outreach and what is known about its performance, and (2) how Labor enforces laws addressing gender pay disparities among federal contractors and provides outreach and what is known about its performance." http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-799
As for EEOC, GAO concluded: "EEOC does not monitor gender pay enforcement efforts under another statute that covers multiple discrimination topics and under which more than half of gender pay charges are filed. As a result, EEOC does not make complete use of available information to help identify trends related to gender pay cases, set agency priorities, or understand how its gender pay enforcement efforts are contributing to overall performance goals relative to other efforts." Similarly, regarding OFCCP, the GAO made the following observations, among others: "[R]egulations require contractors to conduct a self-evaluation of their compensation systems to identify and address gender pay disparities. However, OFCCP's guidance on this is found in different source documents that are not cross-referenced, and its data system lacks a unique code to help the agency easily determine the extent to which contractors are complying with the self-evaluation requirement."
The GAO's recommendations are as follows:
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: To gauge how well EEOC is carrying out its responsibilities regarding gender pay discrimination, the Chair of the EEOC should devise a cost-effective method to improve its ability to monitor the performance of its gender pay enforcement efforts relative to other areas, using information already captured in its databases and supplementing information already reported.Agency Affected: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Status: In process Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To strengthen OFCCP's enforcement and outreach efforts and gauge the performance of those efforts, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Director of OFCCP to evaluate the Westat mathematical model and incorporate lessons learned from the prior model to ensure contractors are appropriately being selected for compliance evaluations and to maximize limited enforcement resources.Agency Affected: Department of Labor Status: In process Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To strengthen OFCCP's enforcement and outreach efforts and gauge the performance of those efforts, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Director of OFCCP to improve oversight of compliance evaluations for contractors by establishing linkages between relevant and current guidance on conducting compensation self-evaluations and devising a unique violation code to document any non-compliance with the compensation self evaluation requirement.Agency Affected: Department of Labor Status: In process Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To strengthen OFCCP's enforcement and outreach efforts and gauge the performance of those efforts, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Director of OFCCP to ensure the planned new data system incorporates standardized data entry instructions and adequate internal controls to screen for erroneous, inconsistent, or missing data, and ensures violation codes are correctly entered.Agency Affected: Department of Labor Status: In process Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To strengthen OFCCP's enforcement and outreach efforts and gauge the performance of those efforts, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Director of OFCCP to develop a cost-effective means for monitoring performance of gender pay enforcement efforts relative to other areas, using information generally already captured in existing databases, once determined reliable.Agency Affected: Department of Labor Status: In process Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To strengthen OFCCP's enforcement and outreach efforts and gauge the performance of those efforts, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Director of OFCCP to devise a method for systematically collecting feedback from recipients of outreach and technical assistance and using this information to measure and monitor outreach performance.Agency Affected: Department of Labor Status: In process Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
To read the entire report, go to: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08799.pdf
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