In a public webinar held earlier this week, OFCCP provided listeners with information and insights into the Agency’s recent rescission of the 2006 Compensation Standards and the implementation of Directive 307.

As OFCCP’s Notice of Rescission made clear, the Agency felt constrained by the 2006 Standards and the new “case-by-case” approach to pay investigations will afford OFCCP the flexibility it needs to identify and fully investigate pay discrimination.

During the webinar, OFCCP emphasized that going forward it will be “considering all employment practices that may lead to compensation disparities” and explained this means Compliance Officers will be looking into hiring practices, promotion and training opportunities, and “glass ceiling” type issues for their impact on employee pay.

During the robust question and answer period of the webinar, OFCCP was asked to shed light on what employers should be doing for a compliant proactive pay analysis going forward given the rescission of the Voluntary Guidelines on Self-Evaluation.  The Agency respond it “was easy” – contractors just need to “follow the regulations.”  The regulations, however, do not proscribe a specific methodology for self-evaluation.  In response to several follow up questions on the topic, Pam Coukos, the Agency’s Special Program Advisor on pay further answered the question by stating what she believed a compliant self-evaluation was not.  Specifically, she opined that looking at pay a single way by job title “and calling it a day” would not be a sufficient self-evaluation.  While providing insight into OFCCP’s position on the subject, employers are still confounded as to how they should be looking at their pay in a proactive fashion given OFCCP’s new compensation “playbook”.

In another highlight during the call, a question posed by a webinar attendee raised issue with the seemingly contradictory position taken in the recently published FAQs compared to the Scheduling Letter on the date of the compensation snapshot to be provided during compliance reviews.  OFCCP stated it would look into the matter and determine whether the FAQs needed to be revised.  The bottom line, the Agency said, is if it comes down to the FAQs (or the Directive) and the Scheduling Letter, the Scheduling Letter prevails.

OFCCP will be hosting another complimentary public webinar on March 22, 2013.  Tune in if you can . . .