On August 8, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the Equal Pay Report in the Federal Register.
The NPRM can be found at: http://http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-08-08/pdf/2014-18557.pdf. The NPRM is very lengthy, beginning on page 46562 of the Federal Register and ending on page 46606, most of which is the preface. The actual proposed rule begins on page 46604. The Information Collection Request (ICR), which has both the proposed report and instructions for completing the report, can be found at: http://http://http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewIC?ref_nbr=201407-1250-001&icID=212555. The NPRM will be open for comments through November 6, 2014. We encourage everyone to comment. We will post our comments when we submit them. A final rule would take effect 180 days from its publication in the Federal Register. Clearly, the final rule will not take effect until sometime in 2015. It is unlikely that a report will be required in 2015 using 2014 data; however, that has not been made clear.
The OFCCP stated that the agency intends to use the data provided in the report to schedule contractors for Compliance Reviews. The agency has also stated that it will publish summary data by industry so that contractors can compare their data to industry data. It is highly questionable how much of an indicator of compensation discrimination a comparison of pay data by EEO-1 Categories by industry would be. Clearly, the proposed report would not apply to educational institutions since they do not file EEO-1 Reports. The OFCCP is seeking input regarding the approach to take for educational institutions.
The proposed Equal Pay Report instructions (see the ICR) specify who is required to file, how to file, the covered reporting period, when to file, alternate reporting formats, confidentiality, and recordkeeping requirements. They also include section-by-section completion instructions and an appendix, which contains sections with definitions, responsibilities of prime contractors, race and ethnic identification, description of job categories, and legal basis for requirements. The proposed filing period is to be January 1 to March 31 and the report will cover the prior calendar year, January 1 to December 31. The number of employees included in the report should match the number included on the most recent EEO-1 Report regardless of whether or not they are still employed by the contractor on December 31.
The report contains two data tables, one for male employees and one for female employees. Much like the EEO-1 Reports, it is broken down by EEO-1 Category, then by race and ethnicity within each category. There are two additional reporting columns for each race/ethnic group and gender for W-2 Pay and Total Work Hours. Actual work hours are to be used for hourly employees. They should be used if available for salaried employees, if not, employers may use 2,080 and 1,040 hours for full-time and part-time employees respectively. Unlike the EEO-1 reports, Multi-establishment Employers will be required to submit a form for each location, regardless of the headcount. There will be no consolidated reports.
Please contact us by calling (732) 446-2529 or sending us an e-mail at glennbarlett@gbcs.net if you are interested in discussing this notice of proposed rulemaking.