Date and Time: Download
Run Time: 90 minutes including Q & A session
Leaders: Cheryl Behymer and Sheila Willis, Attorneys at Law, Fisher Phillips
Credits: Awarded 1.5 credit hours by HRCI and 1.5 PDCs by SHRM
Price: Download $295 (Share the download with your colleagues)
Audience: HR, benefits, finance, HR managers, affirmative action officers, in-house counsel, etc.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Pay equity and pay transparency issues are of increasing concern to employers and employees alike, and with good reason. They are also areas of increasing scrutiny by the regulatory agencies and the courts. Just about every state in the country has passed its own legislation, in addition to the federal Equal Pay Act mandating “equal pay for equal work.” Most state statutes include requirements which are more stringent than federal law and are inconsistent with each other. Generally, states have enacted robust pay equality statutes covering all protected classes of employees. Some states have unique safe-harbor provisions for employers who conduct pay equity audits. Many states have also enacted strong pay transparency requirements to complement their pay equity statutes.
High-stakes equal pay litigation has exploded across the country and multi-million-dollar class action settlements are reported weekly. Employees, the regulatory agencies, the courts, and activist shareholders are now demanding that companies conduct pay equity audits to ensure that all employees are being paid fairly and are complying with new pay equity and transparency requirements. Please join Cheryl Behymer and Sheila Willis, attorneys at law, as they discuss current federal and state pay equity and transparency requirements, key compliance issues, and how conducting a pay equity audit can help you to gauge the magnitude of your potential pay equity disparities and improve your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGTS
During this important program Ms. Behymer and Ms. Willis will discuss:
- Federal Equal Pay Act requirements and related federal equal pay requirements including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, the Paycheck Fairness Act, etc.
- Key state pay-equity requirements which tend to include provisions which often are more stringent than similar federal requirements
- State pay-transparency requirements. Distinguishing between partial and full transparency
- What “equal pay for equal work” means in a practical sense. Defining “similar work” based on skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions.
- Compliance issues:
- Determining pay equity-how to select the best geographic scope and statistical structures and methods
- How to handle situations where there are no comparable positions
- Multi-state employer issues. Is there a requirement for pay uniformity?
- Complying with differing requirements among states
- Avoiding claims of retaliation by employees who file complaints
- Permissible factors for setting salary levels
- Asking an applicant about his/her prior salary and work experience. Can you discipline employees who share their salary information
- Relying on job title rather than job content to determine pay scales
- Gender identity issues
- HR divulging current salary information
- Divulging salary ranges rather than an employee’s actual salary
- Safe-harbor protection for employers who conduct pay equity audits
- Organizing and conducting your own pay equity audit
- Acceptable time frames for correcting pay inequities
PROGRAM LEADERS
Cheryl Behymer is a partner in the Columbia, South Carolina office of Fisher and Phillips. She is the co-chair of the firm’s Pay Equity Practice Group, as well as the Affirmative Action and Federal Contract Compliance Practice Group. She assists clients by providing timely and practical counsel, training and audit defense in various labor and employment matters. Cheryl is a frequent presenter on pay equity, compensation, affirmative action, and harassment legal issues. She is “AV” Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
Sheila Willis is also an attorney in the Columbia, South Carolina Fisher Phillips office. Sheila is actively involved in both the Pay Equity and the Affirmative Action and Federal Contract Compliance Practice Groups. She regularly prepares client trainings and workshops and counsels clients on a wide range of labor and employment issues.