Dive Brief:
- Humana Inc. has agreed to pay $2.5 million to 753 women to resolve pay discrimination claims, following a routine U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) evaluation, the agency announced.
- OFCCP says that in 2011 and 2012, Humana paid women managers, consultants and project managers less than men in similar positions. The agency concluded that Humana violated nondiscrimination requirements for federal contractors.
- Humana agreed to pay the women back wages and interest, but didn't admit fault. DOL says Humana will also make pay adjustments.
Dive Insight:
While it remains to be seen what the new DOL's enforcement policies and practices will look like, pay equity remains a top issue for private litigants.
An array of employers have faced pay discrimination claims in recent months, including Google, Microsoft and Oracle. Possibly feeling the combined pressure from those claims and the #MeToo movement, almost half of employers in a recent survey reported that they're reviewing their compensation polices to assure pay equity.
Improved transparency around pay may be key for companies working toward pay equity, according to Andrew Challenger, a VP at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the firm that conducted the survey. Employers also can create cultures that value pay parity in other ways, he said in a statement, including regularly reviewing job descriptions, making pay parity a priority on the board and at the C-Suite level, or engaging a third party to analyze compensation structures.