The Department of Labor is seeking public comment on the proposed development of a new data tool to collect information on salaries, wages and other benefits paid to federal contractors and subcontractors, the agency announced.
The tool would improve the ability of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to gather data that could be analyzed for indicators of discrimination, such as disparities faced by female and minority workers.
“Today, almost 50 years after the Equal Pay Act became law, the wage gap has narrowed, but not nearly enough,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. “The president and I are committed to ending pay discrimination once and for all.”
According to the agency, there are 15 questions for public response on the types of data that should be requested, the scope of information OFCCP should seek, how the data should be collected, how the data should be used, what the tool should look like, which contractors should be required to submit compensation data and how the tool might create potential burdens for small businesses.
To provide an opportunity for the public to submit feedback, the department published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in the Aug. 10 edition of the Federal Register, the agency said. The proposal will be open to public response for 60 days, and the deadline for receiving comments is Oct. 11. Comments can be posted at regulations.gov.
