For those of you who are federal contractors, and have had the pleasure of being audited by the U.D. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), you know how close to the vest the OFCCP has historically kept their formulas, pay analysis groupings theories, and statistical modeling theories/backup, making early settlement frustrating if not impossible. Effective August 24, 2018, the DOL issued a new directive, DIR 2018-05, that outlines their procedures for conducting their compliance evaluation (audit) with the priority of eliminating pay discrimination. I am encouraged by this directive, insofar as the OFCCP appears to be taking measures to improve transparency and working more on correcting true pay disparities versus paying a game of “gotcha”.

DIR 2018-05 notably nods to this history, stating that upon review “OFCCP is concerned that contractors lack the clear guidance Directive 307 [2013] intended to give”. The OFCCP hopes the new directive will allow federal contractors to better conduct meaningful self-audits to proactively identify and address any pay disparity issues. I’d bore you all to death if I set forth a summary of the directive, but wanted to at least point out what the directive contains (the link to DIR 2018-15 is above).

The directive explains how it uses statistical and other evidence to evaluate pay practices, as well as data requests via a Scheduling Letter, which is used to request data such as the employers Affirmative Action Program (AAP). The directive further notes how it determines its similarly-situated analysis groupings by developing pay analysis groupings (PAGs) that mirror a contractor’s compensation system (this has been a fight for contractors in the past). Finally, the directive discusses how the OFCCP applies statistical methodology and modeling in a desk audit and during the compliance evaluation, which control variables are used and how, and how it will facilitate transparency, consistency, and resolution through conciliation.