What Is an Equity Hearing?

An equity hearing is an investigative meeting called by a governing body to determine whether a group is being treated unfairly. This can apply to equal wages, equal access to facilities or equal opportunities. Such hearings usually call upon business leaders to defend their practices in light of complaints by a group or individual.

Equity Hearing to Determine Gender Bias

One form of equity hearing is the meetings called by Congress to determine the reasons women do not receive equal pay. Business leaders are called in to defend their payment scales for women in their organizations. Compensation plans are examined and comparisons are made to determine whether different genders in the same job routinely receive different pay.

Tax Equity Hearing

The Senate House Ways and Means Committee holds hearings to determine whether certain groups receive undeserved tax breaks. This issue comes up frequently when complaints arise about large corporations getting tax breaks that are not available to small businesses.

Race, Age Equity Hearings

Hearings have been conducted by government organizations to determine whether hiring and wage decisions are being made on the basis of race. In such a hearing, the court must find a strong pattern of lower wages among a certain race for it to make a recommendation. A variation on this type of hearing is the age discrimination hearings held to determine why some corporations ranked older workers lower in performance appraisals. A March 2001 article in "The New York Times" reported lawsuits have arisen based on the allegation that the grading systems used by some major companies have discriminated against older employers, minorities and women. Some managers suggested older workers couldn't keep up with new technology.

Housing Equity

Hearings are held to determine whether specific groups are provided access to adequate housing. These hearings occur not only at the government level, but at learning institutions as well. For example, international students at City College of San Francisco complained in October of 2010 that they do not have equal access to housing. This also can affect business owners if they are the landlords and have tried to keep specific groups out of their properties.

References

• National Small Business Association; Senate Holds Pay Equity Hearing
• South African Government Information: EEC Hearing: Gender Transformation in the Workplace
• CCSF Academic Senate: Equity Hearing; International Students
• 21st Century Taxation: Fairness and Equity Hearing
• "The New York Times"; Companies Turn to Grades, and Employees Go to Court