Mixed Results for Women, Minorities at DOE Labs

Women and minorities working at six US Department of Energy laboratories are not treated significantly differently from men and white people in terms of promotions and merit pay increases, but “statistically significant” differences in salaries exist between women and men at five of the six labs, according to a new Government Accounting Office (GAO) study.

The study, conducted at the request of Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL) as a follow-up to a similar 2002 study limited to the DOE weapons labs, found that women were paid 2% to 4% less than their male counter-parts. The lab where women’s pay was equal to men’s was the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington.

In addition to Pacific Northwest, the laboratories studied by the GAO were Argonne in Illinois, Brookhaven in New York, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley in California, and Oak Ridge in Tennessee. Pay for minorities was equal to that of white males at all of the labs except Lawrence Berkeley, where minorities were paid about 1.5% less. At two labs, Brookhaven and INEEL, women received between 5.3% and 7% more merit pay than white males. Minorities received 3% less merit pay than white men at Argonne and Brookhaven. While the numbers show that the statistically significant problem areas vary from lab to lab, GAO interviewers found that a common concern among women and minorities at all the labs was an under-representation in management positions and a lack of career development opportunities.

The 2002 GAO report on gender and race discrimination at the three national weapons laboratories—Sandia and Los Alamos in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore in California—was triggered by allegations of racial profiling stemming from charges of espionage against LANL scientist Wen Ho Lee. The problem areas raised in that report haven’t been officially resolved because of a long-standing dispute between DOE and the Department of Labor (DOL) concerning which agency has the authority to enforce equal employment opportunity regulations at the labs.

A member of Biggert’s staff said the latest report is intended to keep lab managers and officials of DOE and DOL working to end all forms of work-place discrimination. Congressional hearings aren’t planned, but Biggert said the study shows that “this is an area that requires additional attention by DOE and the management of these laboratories.”