Cynthia Jackson

Jackson is expert on investigating and litigating cross-border matters, including crafting global codes of conduct to fit clients' geographic footprints.

Recent cultural developments have increased her focus on pay equity and Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program audits, but -- taking the long view -- she said the move toward gender and pay fairness in the workplace has been on a slow, steady march for decades.

"Today it's a confluence of the pay equity and MeToo movements, they go hand in hand," Jackson said. "But they aren't new." She cited the U.S. Supreme Court's 9-0 holding in 1986 in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57. The court found sexual harassment leading to non-economic injury in a hostile work environment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"The justices were saying that sexual harassment is about power inequities, and that is as true today as it was then," Jackson said. "Couple that with the fact that the Equal Pay Act of 1963 is more than 50 years old, and you see we have been looking at these issues for a long time. Money is power." The act, signed into law by President John F. Kennedy, aimed at abolishing wage disparities based on gender.

Jackson keeps the names of her clients off the record. In recent months she has conducted confidential nationwide and international pay equity audits and subsequent pay adjustment advice for multiple large publicly traded high tech clients and assisted other clients in response to threatened individual and class pay equity claims.

"Social media and the 24/7 news cycle have raised the visibility of these issues, along with their recent origins in Hollywood," Jackson said. "I read the tea leaves and push to be proactive with clients. I counsel them away from problems rather than react to them."

What isn't new, she said, is the technique for conducting inquiries into company policies. "The rules on fair and impartial investigations and the legal standards governing them haven't really changed much." There are new pay equity laws designed to close the wage gap, such as the California Fair Pay Act of 2016, that have now been enacted in 20 states and some cities, she said.

"When we do the audits and find anomalies, companies do take it to heart," Jackson said. "Many companies do want to do the right thing. They are happy for my assistance."

-- John Roemer