OFCCP Director Patricia Shiu gave the keynote speech this morning at the 41st American Association for Access, Equity, and Diversity (AAAED) National Conference in New Orleans, LA.
Below is a summary of her remarks:
Compensation Disparity:
- Reiteration of the fact that females continue to make less than male counterparts over the lifetime of their careers
- On average the difference equates to an estimated ($400,000)
- African American and Hispanic females suffer even wider disparity
Summary of metrics from the previous year’s enforcement activities:
- 3,839 audits in 2014 covering 1.5 million workers
- 67 conciliation agreements
- 2 consent degrees
- $12 million in remedies (compared to $9.7 in 2013)
- 14 cases of pay discrimination
Forecasting 2015 Audit Proceedings:
- An estimate of between 3,000 and 4,000 audits will be conducted
- Potentially fewer audits when compared to 2014 because the audits are more in-depth
- The agency has a desire to close audits more quickly where there are no issues and has made “improving investigation speed” a focus in the 115 trainings that were administered to OFCCP staff since 2010
Notice of Proposed Rule Making:
- Pay Secrecy, Equal Pay Report, Sex Discrimination, and E.O. 13672 are still active
- Reminder: The “EEO is the Law Poster” is still being revised
OFCCP – Reaching Across the Aisle:
Patricia Shiu emphasized that after a couple of years of a “them and us” relationship, she hoped that the Contractor community and the OFCCP could work together going forward. Specifically, she stated that “We need to move past the conversations of two years ago… and we need to share the positive things being done by contractors.”