OFCCP’s Decision Not to Use Pay Data Challenged by Senator Patty Murray

Democratic senator questions OFCCP claim that the data is not necessary to reveal unlawful pay discrimination.

Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash) wants OFCCP to reverse its decision to not use pay data intended to enforce anti-discrimination laws and address pay gaps.

On September 12, 2019, EEOC communicated that it did not intend to request Component 2 pay data under the current OMB control number and requested that Component 1 be assigned a new OMB control number. Once OFCCP discovered that EEOC did not plan to collect pay data going forward, the agency published a Federal Register notice  on November 25, 2019 titled “Intention Not to Request, Accept, or Use Employer Information Report (EEO-1) Component 2 Data.”

The OFCCP said that it "does not expect to find significant utility in the data given limited resources and its aggregated nature, but it will continue to receive EEO-1 Component 1 data." OFCCP also determined that the Component 2 pay data was not necessary “to accomplish its mission to ensure federal contractors are not engaged in unlawful pay discrimination."

On January 7, 2020, Senator Murray communicated her feelings in a letter  to the Secretary of Labor indicating that “discontinuing the request for and use of data regarding wage disparities undermines OFCCP’s ability to address inequities among those hired to complete work for the federal government." She also called the OFCCP’s claim "wholly unjustified" in that it "does not expect to find significant utility in the data" given that the OFCCP determined the wage gap data was useless before actually analyzing it.

"I strongly urge you to stand up for the mission of OFCCP, take a meaningful look at the wage gap data collected by EEOC, and reverse the OFCCP decision," wrote Senator Murray. "The OFCCP must be armed with more information, not less, if we are to address the unacceptable and unlawful wage gaps experienced by workers on federal contracts."