Congress holds oversight hearing on EEOC and OFCCP

On April 27, 2022, the House Committee on Education and Labor held an oversight hearing, Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

Burrows outlines agency’s goals, responds to questions

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chair Charlotte Burrows opened with a summary of her written testimony (https://bit.ly/3LGelwA) in which she outlined the agency’s four broad areas of focus:

• Advancing racial justice and addressing broad patterns or practices of discrimination on all protected bases through its systemic program and interagency cooperation;
• Determining, confronting, and tackling the civil rights impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Advancing pay equity; and
• Strengthening the agency’s capacity.

In her testimony, Burrows added the agency wanted to update its harassment guidance to add lessons learned from #MeToo and the pandemic.

In response to questions from Representative Virginia Fox (R-North Carolina) that the EEO-1 Component 2 requirement was burdensome and lacked utility, Burrows stated the EEOC had found the pay data collected could help the agency in its pay discrimination efforts since the agency needs more information to be able to attack the pay gap. She noted the agency is waiting for the National Academy of Sciences’ report before determining what any future pay data collection will involve.