Wage Equity: Equal Pay Analysis Planned
Published March 18, 2024
Our audit objective was to determine whether race and gender wage disparities existed at the organizational level and whether there were procedures in place to prevent them.
We found that wage gaps existed at the organizational level and the County was in the process of implementing an equal-pay analysis to determine whether differences among individual employees performing comparable work resulted from factors allowed by the Oregon Equal Pay Act. We also found that the procedure designed to ensure new employee salary offers complied with the Act didn’t apply to employees offered entry level salaries and that personnel rules discouraged the procedure.
White men earned more in total compensation than other staff in 2022.
The Oregon Equal Pay Act addresses many factors explaining wage gaps but does not apply to all factors that might lead to wage differences including how much overtime people work, what jobs people perform, and how long they are employed. In addition to conducting an equal-pay analysis, Deschutes County may wish to work on eliminating gender and race disparities in these areas to increase pay equity.
We recommended that
- the County continue with plans to conduct and equal-pay analysis and report outcomes
- Human Resources update rules and procedures related to setting starting wages for new employees.
January 2025 Status Update:
Nine months after the audit report, the County was in the process of conducting an equal-pay analysis with plans for completion by Spring of 2025. Human Resources updated procedures for the equity review process and added the process to the Supervisor Tool Kit but was waiting on advice from consultants before proposing updates to personnel rules.
Audit Report
Wage Equity: Equal Pay Analysis Planned
Follow-Up Reports
Follow-up Report published January 21, 2025
Recommendation Status
Of the five recommendations
RESOLVED: 2
Recommendations have been fully implemented. Auditor will no longer monitor.
IN PROCESS: 3
Recommendations are in progress. Auditor will continue to monitor.
NOT IMPLEMENTED: 0
Management accepted the risk of not implementing the recommendation.
