To comply or not comply with EEO-1 Component 2 reporting:  It appears that filing the EEO-1 Component 2 may have security issues.  NORC at the University of Chicago has been contracted to conduct the Component 2 EEO-1 Compensation Data Collection. The data in this system is being collected with software that is designed to secure data and provide confidentiality. Yet the notice by NORC states, “However, please be apprised that all Internet-based communication is subject to the remote likelihood of tampering from an outside source. Access or use of this website by any user constitutes consent to this term.”  There is a question of security which was raised by employers and may not be adequately addressed by NORC.  Consent cannot be compelled by statutory/regulatory requirement.  EEOC will address this concern by FAQs.  As a side note, there will be no data migration from the EEO-1 component 1 so EEOC is allowing any date within the 4^th Quarter to be used.

Administration nominates two to EEOC: On July 3, 2019 the administration nominated Charlotte Burrows — who is currently serving a term on the EEOC that technically ended July 1, 2019, but will serve until end of year — and Keith Sonderling, a Trump administration official who is the current deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.  If confirmed, Burrows' new term would expire July 1, 2023 and Sonderling's would expire July 1, 2024.  The question is when either will be put towards committee or confirmed.  Current Chair Janet Dhillon waited two years before confirmation.

California may require pay reporting:  California – estimated to be the fifth largest global economy – is quietly advancing its own race- and sex-based pay data reporting requirement. Introduced in January 2019, Senate Bill 171 passed the California Senate on May 22. On June 26, it began its path through the assembly with hearings in the Labor and Employment Subcommittee.  In its current form, SB 171 would require private employers with at least 100 employees to submit an annual report for each establishment to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). The bill would require the DFEH to make the reports available, upon request, to the California Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement, the state agency tasked with enforcement of the state’s wage and hour laws.  Much like the EEO-1 Report’s Component 2, each proposed California report would contain employee pay data broken down by race, ethnicity, and sex within specified job categories. In fact, the two requirements are so similar that, in its current form, SB 171 would permit employers to submit their EEO-1 Report Component 2 to satisfy the contemplated state-level reporting obligation.  If and when it passes, and it likely will, ASE will provide an update.  Source:  Jackson Lewis 7/2/19

Are you posting jobs that don’t match actual jobs?  “There seems to be a disconnect between what employers are saying they’re looking for and what the job turns out to be,” says Ian Siegel, CEO of ZipRecruiter, a leading job board. Complaints that jobs aren’t as billed aren’t new. But, Siegel says, “In a market where employers are in a dogfight for talent, they are more than ever trying to dress up their job listings.”  Just 47% of workers believe job descriptions reflect actual responsibilities, according to a recent survey by recruiting and software company Jobvite. And a ZipRecruiter poll conducted in June for USA Today found that 58% of job seekers have applied for a position based on an inaccurate description. About 30% of workers report leaving a job within the first 90 days, with nearly half saying the day-to-day role wasn’t what they expected, the Jobvite survey shows. Such mismatches are more prevalent in industries struggling to find skilled workers, such as technology and health care, staffing firms say.  Source: USA Today 7/1/19

Men still outnumber women in STEM: Analyzing data from the Census Bureau's 2017 American Community Survey, Typing.com found that no state had more women than men who hold a degree in a STEM subject. It also found that no state had more women than men working in STEM fields.  Of U.S. states and districts, Washington, D.C. had the narrowest gap between men and women with a STEM degree, with only a 6.8% difference. The closest behind D.C. was New York, with a 12.9% gap. New Mexico had the largest gap at 22.5%. Montana was a close second at 22.3%.  The analysis of people working in STEM fields found D.C. again had the smallest gap between men and women working in these industries, at 13.8%. The nearest state, with nearly triple D.C.'s rate, was Maryland at 38%. The state with the largest gap between men and women working in STEM was Rhode Island with a 62.8% difference.  HR Dive 7/3/19

Wage and Hour Division adds compliance resources:  On June 27, the Department of Labor unveiled additional "plain-language, user-friendly" compliance assistance materials that it says will help employers, workers, and other stakeholders understand their responsibilities and their rights under federal labor law. The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has added several publicly available presentations to its website, including topics such as the FLSA, federal child labor requirements, and employers' responsibilities to provide rest breaks and proper facilities for nursing mothers.   The presentations are part of WHD’s efforts to modernize compliance assistance materials for employers and workers, and to provide easily accessible, plain-language information that will guide them to compliance, the DOL said. These tools, which offer a more streamlined design, link to numerous additional resources and related information, including plain-language videos.  The DOL believes that these tools, in conjunction with worker.gov, employer.gov, and other recently released online tools, will ensure greater understanding of federal labor laws and regulations.  Source:  CCH 7/2/19

OMB needs more info on burden of OFCCP’s new scheduling letter: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published notice it would begin reviewing the proposed changes to OFCCP’s Supply and Service scheduling letter (1250-0003) and is seeking public comments until July 28, 2019 to aid in its review.  Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), OMB must evaluate all new and (periodically) all existing federal government requests for information based on administrative burden. Presently, OMB is particularly interested in comments that: 

• Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility

• Evaluate the accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used

• Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected

• Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

The approval for the current scheduling letter expired on June 30, 2019; however, the notice states the existing information collection requirements receive a month-to-month extension while OMB’s evaluation of the proposed revisions is pending.  Jackson Lewis 7/1/19