For this assignment, you are the new Compliance Representative in the HR Department. It is your primary goal to ensure the organization is compliant with laws and regulations in all areas including recruiting/hiring new people, employee safety, and fair labor practices for current employees.

Report to the VP of HR: Sarah Green’s Case

Part one: Overview of the case

Sarah Green, a 12-year-old accountant, was hired by Parker and Mendez Accounting, LLC. Four months later, Sarah Green discovered she was paid less than colleagues with the same experience or even less. When she questioned the hiring manager about the pay discrepancy, she was told that the organization’s policy is to pay in a range based on the previous pay. The hiring manager admitted that Sarah’s previous salary was at the low end of the expected range despite her past success and performance reviews. The reason for the pay policy is to ensure fairness in pay and making an exception would undermine the policy’s purpose. Sarah found out that her former employer was discriminatory in paying women lower than men, even when the women were more experienced or had brought more business. The discriminatory practices of her previous employer affected the pay she received today.

EEOC act violated

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) was violated in Sarah’s case. In order to comply with the Equal Pay act of 1963, employees are required to be paid equal wages for doing similar work regardless their gender. In Sarah’s case, she was paid less than her male counterparts who had equal or less experience.

Ethics and Legal Obligations

Parker and Mendez Accounting, LLC, has both ethical and legal obligations to comply with EPA. The company is required to act ethically by treating employees equally and without gender discrimination. The company must comply with the EPA which bans discrimination based on gender.

Sarah’s Proposed Solution

Parker and Mendez Accounting, LLC should increase Sarah’s pay to the same level as her male colleagues with equal or less experience. It should pay her retroactively for the last four months that she received less.

Changes to Policy

Parker and Mendez Accounting, LLC must change their pay policy in order to comply with the EPA. In the pay policy, it should be specified that equal work will result in employees being paid at the same rate regardless of previous salaries. The company should base starting pay on the job’s responsibilities and requirements, as well as the candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Overview of the Training Session Part 2

Introduce yourself

This training is intended to make sure that hiring managers, benefits specialists and payroll experts comply with other laws and regulations relevant to the Equal Pay Act of 1993. The training provides an overview of wage discrimination as well as guidance on how it can be avoided.

Scope

Topics covered in the training include:

• Equal Pay Act of 1964: Introduction
• Pay discrimination – Identifying it and eliminating it
• Best practices for determining starting pay
• Pay negotiation strategies with job candidates
• Pay decisions should be based on legal and ethical principles
• Documentation and Record-keeping Requirements

Objectives

Participants will have the ability to:

• Identify the impact of pay discrimination on both employees and employers.
• Use objective criteria for determining the starting wage and make sure you comply with all relevant laws and regulation.
• Avoid pay discrimination by using best practices when negotiating with candidates.
• Maintain accurate documentation of all pay practices and decisions.

Exercise Method

It will combine online sessions with face-to-face ones. The self-paced online sessions cover theoretical issues of pay discrimination and laws and regulations. They also include best practices to calculate starting salaries. The interactive face-toface sessions give participants the chance to practice what they learned through role-playing.