Michael Baker International Inc. agreed to pay $122,299 in back wages as part of a settlement with the US Department of Labor to resolve allegations that the consulting engineer paid women in four job titles less than their male counterparts.
Officials with the agency’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs said they discovered the alleged pay discrimination during a routine review of the company’s compliance as a federal contractor. It found the Pittsburgh-based company failed to meet equal employment opportunity nondiscrimination requirements between January 2020 and June 2021.
The settlement represents back wages plus interest for four eligible employees in the company’s engineering unit, officials said. Under its terms, Michael Baker will also conduct a compensation analysis and make salary adjustments to correct any gender pay inequities found. The company will also review its compensation system and provide additional training to managers to ensure future compliance.
The company did not immediately respond to inquiries. The settlement says it denies any violations of the executive order cited by department officials.
Executive Order 11246, originally signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s, prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in employment decisions based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin. Agency officials said Michael Baker has federal contracts with the US General Services Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the US Department of Defense.
The Equal Pay Act also protects against gender pay discrimination. Still, the pay gap between men and women has remained at a similar level for the past 20 years, according to an analysis published by the Pew Research Center last year. It found that women earned an average of 82% of what men earned. Between 2000 and 2022, that gap had closed to just $0.02 per dollar.
Samuel Maiden, regional director of contract compliance, said in a statement that the agreement is part of “ongoing efforts to close gender pay gaps and successfully achieve equal pay for women.”
