Fisher Phillips launches new Pay Equity Practice Group
December 5, 2016
Cheryl Behymer, a partner in the Columbia office of national labor and employment law firm Fisher Phillips, will co-chair the firm’s newly formed Pay Equity Practice Group, which was launched today.
The Pay Equity Practice Group was created in response to recent legislative and regulatory initiatives and subsequent employer concerns over pay equity issues. The firm is helping employers deal with what is likely to emerge as one of the most important employment issues of 2017 and beyond.
The Pay Equity Practice Group provides counsel to employers on evolving state laws, helps companies to implement proper pay practices, identifies pay disparities inside organizations, and defends claims of unlawful pay practices filed against employers. Pay equity poses a triple threat to employers given the mix of statutory law, litigation, and regulation they face. Fisher Phillips is dedicated to helping employers successfully navigate these issues.
“The Pay Equity Practice Group provides employers with knowledgeable resources to address the challenging demands of equal pay laws and to better understand any existing issues in their workplace,” said Behymer. “We have seen a significant uptick in high stakes litigation seeking multimillion dollar judgments under the federal Equal Pay Act and similar state laws, and we expect this trend to continue. We have assisted the federal contractor community for years in conducting self-audits and defending high-dollar compensation disparity allegations in government audits. We are well-equipped to help employers defend EEOC and private plaintiff compensation claims.”
Pay equity issues have gained increased attention in recent years on both the federal and state levels. Group co-chair Cheryl Pinarchick said, “The sweeping new EEO-1 reporting requirements will impose tremendous demands on employers to gather and report detailed pay data for the first time ever.” Furthermore, she added, “With more states enacting laws providing for pay equality, and some states expanding the scope of legislation beyond gender to other protected classifications such as race, the practice group was developed to respond to our client’s growing needs.”
The pay equity practice group, which is national in scope, is led by three partners: Behymer in Columbia, Pinarchick in Boston, and Kathleen McLeod Caminiti in New Jersey.
For more information, please visit: https://www.fisherphillips.com/services-pay-equity#Overview
