EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION: US DOL Set to Develop New Data Tool to Monitor Pay Discrimination

August 10, 2011

Washington - The US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (OFCCP) is set to develop a new data tool that will collect information on salaries, wages and other employee benefits of federal contractors and subcontractors, a statement released in the agency website said.

The agency said the new tool will help them gather data that could be analyzed for indicators of discrimination such as disparity faced by female and minority workers.

"Pay discrimination continues to plague women and people of color in the workforce," said OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu, a member of the president's National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force. "This proposal is about gathering better data, which will allow us to focus our enforcement resources where they are most needed. We can't truly solve this problem until we can see it, measure it and put dollar figures on it."

OFCCP is main agency tasked with enforcing Executive Order 11246, which prohibits companies that do business with the federal government from discriminating in employment practices including compensation, on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion.

Bureau of Labor statistics report that women were only paid an average of 77 cents for every dollar paid to men in 2010. In addition to this gender gap, race and ethnicity-based pay gaps are also prevalent, which affects workers of color including men.