TRUSAIC Legal considerations to wait for a pay inequity lawsuit to address the issue when it is too late to be ahead of it in terms Among the reasons for conducting a pay equity of messaging. audit is to prevent or minimize the risk of pay dis­ crimination lawsuits. Given this risk, conducting a Managing risk can involve determining which pay equity audit under attorney guidance is key. metrics are communicated, how granular the de­ An organization can conduct multiple audits for tails are of those metrics, and the timing of such multiple purposes. communications. For example, a federal contractor may want to With respect to pay disparities, the timing and the conduct a pay equity audit for OFCCP compliance granularity of the details should be coordinated purposes and a separate pay equity audit to as­ by counsel and may be appropriate after targeted sess litigation risk. While the former may not be remediation is achieved. If you announce to your protected from disclosure under the attorney cli­ employees the metrics showing that there are pay ent privilege, the latter may be protected. Under disparities, i.e., pay differences between women that framework, such risk should be managed to and men and/or among race/ethnicities that are recognize the competing risk of hiding your head not justified, you could be significantly exposing in the sand. yourself to discrimination lawsuit risk. Organizations today gather data about most met­ Other resulting metrics that you may want to an­ rics affecting their business so to ignore the pay nounce are diversity metrics, which are not as equity data sends the message of indifference or, closely aligned with pay discrimination. This is worse, indicates that the organization is allowing how many organizations have chosen to address pay inequity to flourish. This message is loud and DEi metric transparency. clear to the stakeholders. The riskiest strategy is