Glassdoor Report Raises Questions About How DOL Analyzes Pay Discrimination

A recent Glassdoor report analyzing Alphabet Inc's Google employee pay data found no evidence of gender pay discrimination, calling into question the Department of Labor's allegation that it has "found systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce."  According to the Glassdoor report, the most thorough way to analyze pay is "to control for important variables that allow for apples-to-apples comparisons" such as age, education, experience, job title, and location.  When this is done, the report concludes, "there's no evidence in salaries on Glassdoor of a systematic gender pay gap at Google."  Importantly, the report notes that DOL's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs does not share the methodology it used to conclude that Google has a gender pay problem.  According to Mark Wilson, HR Policy's Vice President of Health and Employment Policy: "Therein lies the problem.  In 2013, DOL rescinded its 2006 compensation standards and voluntary guidelines that employers could follow when conducting their own analyses to ensure compliance."  According to Google, the company analyzes its compensation system each year and if women or men as a group are paid a statistically significant lower amount, Google adjusts their pay to address the difference.