EEOC Responds to Individual Charges of Discrimination and Provides Broad Outreach, but Does Not Track Performance Related to Gender Pay Issues

Consistent with its legal mandate, EEOC addresses gender pay  discrimination primarily by responding to individual charges, although it  also conducts some agency-initiated investigations. EEOC collects detailed  information on its enforcement efforts, but its does not specifically  monitor its performance related to gender pay enforcement. As a result,  EEOC does not use the information that it collects to identify trends  related to gender pay, which could in turn help EEOC understand how its  gender pay enforcement efforts contribute to overall performance goals  and agency priorities. EEOC also conducts fee-based and free outreach on  a broad range of topics, including gender pay. It monitors free outreach to  ensure that it reaches both employers and workers and holds senior  regional officials accountable for achieving high quality ratings on some  fee-based outreach. Specifically:
EEOC assigns charges that appear to have merit based on the available  evidence for further investigation to determine whether the employer  violated anti-discrimination laws. At the same time,  gender pay cases accounted for 19 percent of all agency-initiated  investigations. A similar rise is not  seen for agency-initiated gender pay cases. Labor Targets Systemic Gender Pay Discrimination and Conducts Outreach, but Limitations Exist in Enforcement Efforts and Monitoring Performance

Labor’s OFCCP conducts compliance evaluations of federal contractors,  including those who may be engaging in systemic gender pay  discrimination, but the mathematical model used to target contractors for  systemic discrimination has not yet been evaluated. In addition, OFCCP  regulations require that contractors conduct self-evaluations of their  compensation systems, but relevant guidance is located in different  sources and not cross-referenced. While  OFCCP collects detailed enforcement data by type of discrimination, it  does not use this data to monitor enforcement trends and performance  outcomes regarding gender pay or other specific areas of discrimination. Even if it chose to monitor specific areas of discrimination, questionable  reliability of enforcement data undermines OFCCP’s ability to monitor  performance. As a result, OFCCP does not know the extent to which its  gender pay enforcement efforts contribute to agencywide performance  goals. OFCCP also conducts outreach to federal contractors on topics that  may include gender pay, but does not systematically measure the  performance of these efforts. In contrast, Labor’s Women’s Bureau, which  also provides outreach on topics focused on working women, sets specific  performance targets and measures its impact. To help allocate resources efficiently, OFCCP  prioritizes some of its evaluations of federal contractors based on whether  they may be engaging in any type of systemic discrimination. However, without this type of monitoring, OFCCP may have  difficulty determining how best to prioritize its resources among the  different types of discrimination it addresses. To strengthen OFCCP’s enforcement and outreach efforts and gauge the  performance of those efforts, we recommend that the Secretary of Labor  direct the Director of OFCCP to:    Evaluate the Westat mathematical model and incorporate lessons learned  from the prior model to ensure contractors are appropriately being  selected for compliance evaluations and to maximize limited enforcement  resources; Improve oversight of compliance evaluations for contractors by  establishing linkages between relevant and current guidance on  conducting compensation self-evaluations and devising a unique violation  code to document any non-compliance with the compensation self- evaluation requirement;   Ensure the planned new data system incorporates standardized data entry  instructions and adequate internal controls to screen for erroneous,  inconsistent, or missing data, and ensures violation codes are correctly  entered;   Develop a cost-effective means for monitoring performance of gender pay  enforcement efforts relative to other areas, using information generally  already captured in existing databases, once determined reliable; and   Devise a method for systematically collecting feedback from recipients of  outreach and technical assistance and using this information to measure  and monitor outreach performance. However, as we noted in our report,  more than half of gender pay charges are filed only under Title VII. Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

To obtain information on how the Department of Labor (Labor) and the  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforce laws and  provide outreach addressing gender pay disparities, we reviewed  documents and data and conducted interviews. In addition, we interviewed EEOC and Labor officials in their respective  central offices and two field offices for each agency.
Why GAO Did This Study

In 2003, GAO found that women, on average, earned 80 percent of what men earned in 2000 and workplace discrimination may be one contributing factor. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor (Labor) enforce several laws intended to prevent gender pay discrimination. GAO examined (1) how EEOC enforces laws addressing gender pay disparities among private sector employers and provides outreach and what is known about its performance, and (2) how Labor enforces laws addressing gender pay disparities among federal contractors and provides outreach and what is known about its performance. GAO analyzed relevant laws, regulations, monitoring reports, and agency enforcement data and conducted interviews at the agencies' central offices and two field offices experienced in gender pay cases.

What GAO Found

EEOC addresses gender pay discrimination primarily by responding to individual charges, initiating investigations, and conducting outreach, but the agency does not fully monitor gender pay enforcement efforts. EEOC prioritizes incoming charges of discrimination against employers that appear to merit further investigation, and GAO's analysis of EEOC data showed that charges of gender pay discrimination were prioritized for investigation more frequently than non-gender pay charges. EEOC collects detailed information on all its enforcement efforts and uses these data to monitor enforcement performance overall as well as by statute, including one statute dedicated to gender pay. However, EEOC does not monitor gender pay enforcement efforts under another statute that covers multiple discrimination topics and under which more than half of gender pay charges are filed. As a result, EEOC does not make complete use of available information to help identify trends related to gender pay cases, set agency priorities, or understand how its gender pay enforcement efforts are contributing to overall performance goals relative to other efforts. EEOC also conducts both fee-based and free outreach on a broad range of topics, which can include gender pay. EEOC monitors the number and type of free outreach activities and holds itself accountable for providing outreach to both employers and employees and obtaining high audience ratings on some fee-based outreach. Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) conducts compliance evaluations targeted to federal contractors based on whether they may be engaging in systemic discrimination, but efforts to monitor the performance of enforcement and outreach activities are limited. OFCCP uses a mathematical model to select contractors for review based on the likelihood of noncompliance, but it has not yet evaluated the model for how well it predicts systemic discrimination due to resource constraints. In addition, regulations require contractors to conduct a self-evaluation of their compensation systems to identify and address gender pay disparities. However, OFCCP's guidance on this is found in different source documents that are not cross-referenced, and its data system lacks a unique code to help the agency easily determine the extent to which contractors are complying with the self-evaluation requirement. While OFCCP collects enforcement data by type of discrimination and monitors enforcement performance overall, it does not monitor enforcement trends and performance outcomes regarding gender pay or other specific areas of discrimination. Even if it were to do so, questionable reliability of certain enforcement data undermines performance monitoring. As a result, OFCCP may have difficulty determining how best to prioritize its resources among the different types of discrimination it addresses. To increase awareness of anti-discrimination laws, OFCCP also conducts outreach to federal contractors on topics that include gender pay. OFCCP holds itself accountable for achieving a targeted number of events, but does not systematically gather recipient feedback and use it to measure the quality of its outreach efforts. In contrast, Labor's Women's Bureau, which also provides outreach to working women, sets performance targets and systematically measures its impact.