Labor and Employment Monitoring and Audits

Overview

In addition to litigation-related consulting, clients often request Secretariat Economists professionals to audit their workforce and employment decisions even in the absence of litigation in order to ensure compliance and equity.  Employers have an incentive to monitor employment decisions such as promotions, pay raises, and job assignments not only to protect themselves against future litigation, but also to increase the productivity of their existing workforce.

In addition to monitoring decisions relating to compensation, selection and terminations, economists at Secretariat Economists also review compliance with the federal and state wage/hour laws that regulate overtime, minimum wage and the provision of meal and rest breaks.  Our experts are experienced in identifying potential areas of concern and alerting clients before litigation occurs.

Examples of Audits and Monitoring Engagements include the following:

  • Multiple clients have asked Secretariat Economists professionals to ensure that their proposed re-mapping of salary grades to broader salary bands did not result in women and minorities being disproportionately placed in the lower-paying bands.  Our statistical analyses isolated the specific areas of this company where this would have happened, allowing for the company to adjust their decisions prior to implementation.
  • A global healthcare company retained Secretariat Economists professionals to conduct a comprehensive audit of the major employment decisions at a global healthcare company, including promotions, terminations, performance evaluations, compensation, and disciplinary actions.  As part of the analyses, salary remediation recommendations for sub-groups of employees were calculated and provided to affected employees.
  • A financial services company asked Secretariat Economists professionals to consolidate several electronic databases in order to calculate the number of overtime hours and pay in advance of a reclassification of exempt status.
  • Secretariat Economists professionals have multiple retentions for a variety of clients relating to potential adverse impact by race/ethnicity and gender of employees’ annual performance rating assignments and the associated merit increases or bonus payments.  Despite the complexity of these analyses, the recommended employee-specific adjustments are often calculated in an expedited manner so that they can be applied in conjunction with other regularly scheduled processes.
  • Before implementing a large number of layoffs, a health care company asked Secretariat Economists professionals to review the proposed decisions to ensure there was no adverse impact on the affected employees with respect to age, gender or race/ethnicity.
  • A financial services provider asked Secretariat Economists professionals to review the available data to ensure that employees were properly classified under California’s inside sales exemption.
  • A multi-site retailer retained Secretariat Economists to review the electronic sales transaction data in relation to the times employees were on their meal and rest periods to determine if any stores were not in compliance with company policies and FLSA requirements.