PAY EQUITY – COMPARABLE WORK VS. COMPARABLE WORTH

The concept of comparable work lies at the heart of the new Massachusetts Pay Equity Act.  Through this concept, the law changes the focus of an equal pay analysis from employees within the same job classification to employees across multiple classifications whose work is deemed comparable.

An effective pay equity self-evaluation begins with identifying these groups of comparable positions.  However, many employers have been confusing this notion of comparable work with another often confused term, comparable worth.  Distinguishing these two terms is essential to your pay equity compliance efforts.

The MA Pay Equity Law defines comparable work as “work that is substantially similar in that it requires substantially similar skill, effort, and responsibility and is performed under similar working conditions.”  Correctly identifying employees whose work is comparable requires a review of the specific job duties performed by the employees to determine the skills necessary to perform the duties, the effort required and the responsibility exercised.

Comparable work is loosely connected to this type of analysis.  While the actual duties, skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions help to determine the salary to be paid for a position, positions that are paid similarly are not necessarily comparable under the Pay Equity Law.  In fact, positions that require different skills, effort and responsibility often are paid comparably (comparable worth) and positions that require similar skill, effort, and responsibility (comparable work) are paid differently.

Employers use a variety of tools to validate the worth of a position, including point factor systems, market data, and salary grades. It is commonplace that positions in the same salary grade, with comparable points in a point factor system and comparable pay in the market, may have a completely different skill, effort, and responsibility requirements, or may be performed under different working conditions. These positions would not be considered comparable under the Pay Equity Law.

Employers should look beyond the point factor results, salary grades, and market data.  The focus should be on the actual skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions of each position.  Done properly, employers may find that positions in different salary grades belong n the same comparable group and that positions in the same salary grade, or even with the same points in a point factor system, are not comparable.

Your pay equity self-evaluation begins with identifying which employees perform comparable work.  Avoiding the trap of mistaking comparable worth for comparable work is essential to get this first step right.

As your partner on this journey, Bondcliff HR Advisors will:

• Develop a Pay Equity Compliance Plan – we will review your compensation program and tools, identify steps that promote or hinder pay equity and together, we’ll lay out a pragmatic plan to align your compensation program with compliance requirements and your HR strategy.
• Identify Comparable Positions – we will review position duties and identify and document the skills, effort and responsibilities to meet these requirements as well the working conditions under which the work is performed.
• Collect and analyze pay data – we will assist you in the collection of relevant pay and demographic information and perform statistical analyses to identify whether any gender-based pay differences exist among employees within comparable groups.
• Execution – we will help you develop remedial plans to close gender-based pay differentials, implement best practices for effective communication and roll-out.
• Report and monitor – we will install processes for the on-going review of compensation decisions for compliance with your remedial program.