In 2008, then candidate Obama promised he would enact legislation to
eliminate the gender gap in pay. The first statute he signed as President was
the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Although further attempts at additional
legislation were not successful, the focus of the administration shifted to the
aggressive enforcement of existing laws. A National Equal Pay Enforcement Task
Force was created and the EEOC and OFCCP were given resources to materially
increase their investigation and enforcement programs, making equal pay a
special target of their strategic enforcement efforts.
With the
President's re-election and another campaign promise to do even more to
eliminate the gender pay gap, we fully anticipate even more aggressive agency
enforcement over the next four years.
This session will focus on
proactive steps companies should consider now and how to best respond when the
EEOC begins systemic discrimination, or directed equal pay investigations, or
the OFCCP commences a pay audit.