'The time is now': Why and how to start a pay audit today

WASHINGTON Employers should seriously consider conducting a pay audit and soon, experts suggested at the National Employment Law Institute's 42nd annual Employment Law Update in Washington, D.C. As employers make headlines for closing their race and gender pay gaps and others find themselves defending equal pay claims it's only a matter of time before more face such compensation questions, Zina Deldar, an associate at Paul Hastings and Quenton Wright, a principal at Charles Rivers Associates, told attendees. "We are in a new age in which there is intense pressure on companies, both internally and externally, to address pay gaps," Deldar said. And even if an employer does end up facing a claim, the fact that you conducted an audit can sometimes help. Massachusetts' equal pay law, for example, incentivizes employers to look at pay proactively, they noted. Higher-ups will have to be ready to take action based on the results of an audit, so you may have to hold off until they're prepared to do that, Deldar said, "but hopefully you can convince them that the time is now."