Bricker & Eckler pledges commitment to gender pay equity

Bricker & Eckler has pledged to support The Columbus Commitment, an initiative of the Columbus Women’s Commission, in its efforts to achieve pay equity for women, including women of color.

“Our firm understands the importance of empowering women economically,” said Managing Partner Kurt Tunnell. “We strongly believe that investing in women strengthens our firm, our clients and our community, and we fully support the efforts of the Commission and the City of Columbus in this initiative.”

The firm’s pledge was announced December 6 by Stephen Francis, Chief Diversity Officer for the City of Columbus, in his keynote address to the Corporate Counsel Summit at Bricker & Eckler’s offices. Bricker is one of the city’s early adopters in support of the effort.

The pledge asks organizations to understand the economic impact of pay inequity, analyze information to understand how hiring, promotion and pay practices lead to gender and racial disparities, act to address gender and race-based wage disparity, and share best practices with other organizations.

Women in Columbus earn 78 cents to every dollar earned by a man, according to the commission. Women of color experience even greater disparity.

More information about the initiative can be found at https://www.columbus.gov/payequity/.