The Advisors' Blog

– Liz Dunshee

Earlier this year, I blogged about the relationship between “gender pay” shareholder proposals and a handicapped rule that would have required companies with more than 100 employees to report gender pay data to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying:

Some people expected that when the rule became effective, companies would also disclose their gender pay analysis – similarly to what’s required now in the UK, Australia, Germany and Iceland. Now that government-initiated efforts have stalled out, shareholders are stepping in with private ordering.

According to this MarketWatch article, a judge has now ordered the EEOC to collect the info by September 30th – and so far, the ruling hasn’t been appealed. I’ve blogged that most public companies are already doing equal pay audits. And Broc & I have blogged several times about shareholder efforts to encourage public disclosure of this type of info.

We don’t know yet whether EEOC reporting would bolster – or diminish – those initiatives. Last week, Arjuna Capital announced that support for two of its gender pay gap proposals had increased from 15% when they were first on the ballot in 2017, to approval of about a quarter of shareholders.

Check out our “Gender Pay Equity” Practice Area for more info on the EEOC requirement, the emergence of “equal pay laws,” and the board’s oversight role.