Littler Pay Equity Assessment

The Challenge

Employers today are increasingly focused on pay equity as part of their broader workplace equality initiatives. Yet even as they pursue this well-intentioned goal, they are contending with mounting pressures from the public, employees, regulators and other stakeholders.

With ongoing attention to pay equity and transparency in the workplace, companies face greater reputational risk if their compensation structures result in them paying certain groups less for the same or substantially similar work – not to mention potentially costly fair pay lawsuits. Meanwhile, regulators from across the world – including the European Union, Asia-Pacific, Brazil, Puerto Rico and any number of U.S. states and cities – are increasingly adopting laws intended to close pay gaps and foster greater pay transparency, placing new, multi-jurisdictional compliance burdens on employers. And in the current labor market, employees themselves have become more empowered to request compensation data.

As pay equity reaches more C-suite and board meeting agendas, HR and legal teams are often called upon for quick answers, with serious ramifications for companies and their executives that can come with getting this important issue wrong. But conducting a pay equity audit without a clear strategy and the protection of attorney-client privilege also comes with significant risks.

The Opportunity

In a privileged context, Littler’s Pay Equity Assessment™ can assist employers of all sizes – from organizations operating in one state to multi-national corporations – with their pay equity needs. The Assessment combines proprietary technology and the application of data science with our deep experience in pay equity requirements, compensation structures and employment law.

Having conducted hundreds of pay equity audits – many of which are global in scope – attorneys on Littler’s Pay Equity Assessment team bring extensive experience to the audit process. The result is an analysis that assesses litigation and reputational risk, points companies toward solutions, and can be clearly presented to boards of directors and C-suite executives.

For U.S. analyses, we have a team of Littler lawyers well-versed in U.S. federal, state, and local pay equity laws that work with our in-house team of data analysts and statisticians to perform the steps crucial to a defensible audit.

For global analyses, our pay equity team collaborates with our international offices and partners to comply with local pay equity laws. We rely on our strong international presence and global practitioners to conform our analyses to local requirements, inform our interpretation of the results of an audit for an organization’s international employees, interact with local works council as required in certain countries, and advise on pay equity issues unique to global jurisdictions.

View Littler's U.S. Pay Equity Laws Map
 

The Assessment

Experienced Employment Counsel: A Littler lawyer will work with you to understand the structure of your organization and its compensation system.

Your HR Data, Our Proprietary Approach: Based on that understanding, we will request segments of your HR and/or payroll databases that hold pertinent information, which we will input into our pay equity tool that allows data to be analyzed clearly, quickly and comprehensively.

Real Time Analysis: In real time, we will explore with you how various features of your organization impact compensation. We will utilize filters and controls embedded in the technology to model different views of your data.

User-Friendly Dashboard: The results of each analysis are displayed in a user-friendly dashboard and presented in a privileged report that can easily be shared with and explained to company leaders. These displays eliminate the need for dense spreadsheets, mathematical formulas and technical reports, without sacrificing relevant information.

Documentation: The Littler Pay Equity Assessment documents your efforts to address pay differences. In certain jurisdictions, this may provide a defense to liability. For HR, this documentation can arm managers with the ability to respond when employees ask about their pay, potentially heading off disputes and costly litigation.

When it comes time for an insightful, strategic and practical assessment of your organization’s pay practices, you can now turn to the law firm that has been at the forefront of labor and employment law for over 80 years.

Our experienced attorneys can also assist with a broad range of state and federal issues related to pay equity, including:

• Analyzing and updating compensation policies
• Advising on remediation
• Counseling on setting compensation for new hires, promotions, raises
• Analyzing and updating job descriptions
• Updating compensation structures
• Preparing 50-state compliant job applicant forms
• Comparative analytics
• Collaborating with HR departments, Diversity & Inclusion task forces, and other stakeholder to make pay equity a business imperative
• Training, including to managers, recruiters and others involved in making compensation decisions

To learn more, download the Littler Pay Equity Assessment flyer, also available in a Puerto Rico version (Evaluación de equidad salarial), which is tailored toward compliance with Act 16, the Puerto Rico Equal Pay Act. Questions about how we conduct a Littler Pay Equity Assessment from start to finish? Download the step-by-step process.