Pay Equity & Legal Compliance Flashcards

A company performs a pay equity audit and finds a statistically significant pay gap favoring men in the engineering department. The most appropriate immediate next step is to:

Answer: Conduct a deeper dive to identify root causes before remediation

Before taking corrective action, the organization must understand whether the gap reflects discrimination, legitimate factors not yet captured, or data errors, requiring a root cause analysis.

Which law specifically prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in compensation on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin?

Answer: Executive Order 11246 as amended

Executive Order 11246 (as amended by EO 13672) prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in compensation on the basis of protected characteristics and requires affirmative action.

Pay equity 'cohort analysis' groups employees for comparison purposes. Which grouping criterion is most critical to defensible cohort construction?

Answer: Grouping by job title, level, function, and geography

Defensible cohorts must reflect genuine comparability by controlling for job title, level, function, and location to ensure like-for-like comparisons that would satisfy legal scrutiny.

A CCP candidate is reviewing a company's total rewards statement for pay equity compliance. Which total compensation element is explicitly covered under the Equal Pay Act?

Answer: All forms of remuneration including wages, bonuses, and benefits

The EPA covers all forms of remuneration, including wages, overtime, bonuses, profit sharing, life insurance, vacation pay, and expense reimbursements.

Which of the following scenarios would most clearly constitute a violation of the Equal Pay Act?

Answer: Paying a male analyst more than a female analyst in the same role with identical tenure and performance ratings

When two employees perform substantially equal work under similar conditions and have identical qualifications, a pay difference based on sex with no legitimate affirmative defense is an EPA violation.

Which best describes the difference between 'disparate treatment' and 'disparate impact' pay discrimination claims?

Answer: Disparate treatment involves intentional discrimination; disparate impact involves neutral practices that disproportionately harm protected groups

Disparate treatment requires proof of discriminatory intent, while disparate impact focuses on neutral compensation policies that produce statistically disproportionate harm to protected groups.

An employer in New York City is posting a job for a remote position where the employee can work from any U.S. location. Under NYC's pay transparency law (Local Law 32), the employer must:

Answer: Post the salary range because NYC employees may apply for the remote role

NYC's Local Law 32 requires salary ranges in job postings for roles that can or will be performed even partly in NYC, including remote roles that NYC-based employees could fill.