The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) signed an agreement on September 13, 2023 to immediately start collaborating between the two agencies to share information, coordinate investigations and enforcement, cross-train personnel, and conduct joint outreach and public education efforts.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed Wednesday, allows the agencies to work together to ensure employers are following the various federal laws. What does this really mean? If you are investigated by the DOL for an alleged wage violation and in that investigation a female employee reports that they believe their wages are not only incorrect but also less than all the males because they are not given the good jobs because they are women, the DOL may then share that information with the EEOC to investigate the alleged discrimination (while the WHD continues its wage investigation). Another example is that both the EEOC and WHD enforce the PUMP Act and Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, signed into law by President Biden on December 29, 2022.