Lynne Anderson Discusses Pay Equity Audits Amid Changing Regulations with Bloomberg Law

Labor and employment partner Lynne Anderson spoke with Bloomberg Law about how businesses are managing pay equity risks amid new state wage transparency laws and increased federal scrutiny of DEI efforts.

Laws in New Jersey and Vermont requiring salary ranges in job ads, along with pay discrimination regulations, have led employers to audit and adjust salaries more often to avoid potential legal issues. However, changing federal policies on DEI have raised concerns that pay equity initiatives could also come under regulatory review.

“To the extent you’re trying to determine what’s unlawful DEI, you have to understand that how and why you’re doing your pay equity audits could fall into that bucket of unlawful DEI,” said Anderson.

She said she tells clients voluntary audits of their private workforces shouldn’t imitate the audits that companies with federal contracts previously had to conduct under Executive Order 11246, which President Donald Trump recently revoked.

“If you’re doing your audit to advance pay for certain groups at the detriment of other groups, without regard to whether that’s fair to all groups, that’s going to be a problem,” Anderson explained.