The Washington Report

March 20, 2024

Note to Subscribers

While we do our best to provide timely updates, it is possible that the information shared in the newsletter may change after our publication deadline.

Executive

 

President Biden Issues EO on Women’s Health and Announces New Actions to Advance Research and Innovation
On March 18, 2024, President Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) that “will direct the most comprehensive set of executive actions ever taken to expand and improve research on women’s health. These directives will ensure women’s health is integrated and prioritized across the federal research portfolio and budget, and will galvanize new research on a wide range of topics, including women’s midlife health.” The EO is focused on:

• Integrating women’s health across the federal research portfolio;
• Prioritizing investments in women’s health research;
• Gathering new research on women’s midlife health; and
• Assessing ongoing needs to support this research.

As part of this initiative, the Administration also announced that various agencies will be taking new actions to promote women’s health research, as part of continuing efforts through the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, which include:

• Prioritizing and increasing investments in women’s health research;
• Expanding and leveraging data collection and analysis;
• Strengthening coordination, infrastructure, and training to support this research; and
• Improving women’s health across the lifespan.

The White House Fact Sheet is available here.

The EO is available here.

Other HR/Employment

 

EEOC Releases Data Dashboard With 2017 and 2018 Pay Data Collection; Finds Men Are More Likely to Be in Higher Pay Bands Than Women
On March 12, 2024, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a data dashboard featuring the first-time collection of 2017 and 2018 pay data reported by approximately 70,000 private employers and certain federal contractors with 100 or more employees each year, representing over 100 million workers. According to the EEOC, the dashboard “contains a unique collection of aggregated employer-level workforce demographic and pay data, reported by pay band. By aggregating this data, the EEOC is protecting the confidentiality of employees and employers. The release of this dashboard allows industries, employers, and individuals to assess generally how their pay by sex and race compares to others in their industry, job category, or state. Overall, the data employers reported show in the aggregate that women are typically paid less than men.” For additional information please refer to the data dashboard and supporting resources.

The news release is available here.

The data dashboard is available here.

The user guide is available here.

Frequently Asked Questions are available here.

For additional information about the EEO-1 Component 2 pay data collection, visit What You Should Know: The National Academies’ Evaluation of Compensation Data Collected Through the EEO-1 Form, available here.

Aon Publications

 

SECURE 2.0: Time-Limited Opportunity for Cash Balance Plans to Eliminate Minimum Interest Crediting Rates
Defined benefit pension plans must satisfy legally specified accrual rules to avoid excessive backloading. Recent guidance under SECURE 2.0 enables many cash balance plans to comply with the anti-backloading rules without a fixed minimum interest crediting rate and permits removing such rate if no longer required, thereby potentially reducing plan costs. Cash balance plan sponsors should assess how this guidance may apply to their plans and determine whether potential plan changes may be appropriate.

The Aon bulletin is available here.