Contact

National Compensation Authority serves compensation professionals, HR practitioners, legal researchers, and workers navigating pay-related questions across the United States. This page describes the subject areas covered by the contact function, how to structure an inquiry for the fastest and most accurate response, and what response timelines are realistic given the nature of the resource. Two member reference sites in the compensation network are also described here, as they handle specialized inquiry categories that fall outside the primary scope of this domain.

Service area covered

National Compensation Authority operates as a national-scope reference for the full range of compensation structures, legal frameworks, and professional practices applicable to US employers and workers. Inquiries handled through this channel address topics spanning base salary structures, variable pay programs, equity compensation, compliance obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), pay transparency laws, pay equity requirements, and executive compensation design.

The site also covers compensation-adjacent subjects that intersect with employment law and HR strategy, including deferred compensation plans, nonexempt vs. exempt employee pay, geographic pay differentials, and compensation for remote workers. Reference inquiries related to workers' compensation as a distinct statutory insurance system are addressed in the relevant section of this domain and, for detailed statutory and claims-related questions, may be directed to member resources (described below).

Inquiries outside scope include jurisdiction-specific legal advice, representation in employment disputes, tax preparation, and benefits administration questions not connected to compensation structure. The site does not provide individualized legal or financial counsel.

The two member sites in the network address compensation categories with their own distinct scope:

• Compensation Authority is the core reference resource covering employer-side compensation strategy, pay program design, and workforce pay benchmarking. It covers the mechanics of job evaluation, salary band construction, merit increase cycles, and the operational frameworks that compensation analysts and HR leaders use to manage pay across an organization.

• International Compensation and Benefits Authority addresses cross-border pay structures, expatriate compensation, global mobility policy, and the interaction between country-specific labor laws and multinational compensation programs. Researchers and professionals dealing with international assignment pay, foreign national employment, or global benefits harmonization will find this resource most directly relevant.

What to include in your message

The quality and speed of a response depend directly on the specificity and completeness of the inquiry. Structured inquiries are resolved faster and at greater depth than open-ended questions.

A well-formed inquiry should include:

1. Topic category — Identify the compensation subject area: salary structure, incentive plan design, legal compliance, pay equity analysis, executive pay, or another named category from the site's topic structure.
2. Jurisdiction — State or, for multi-state employers, the set of states involved. Minimum wage laws, pay transparency obligations, and overtime rules vary by state, and 14 states had adopted their own salary history ban statutes as of the AAUW's tracked legislative data, making jurisdiction identification essential.
3. Employment classification — Specify whether the question involves salaried exempt employees, hourly nonexempt workers, independent contractors, or executive-level roles, as the applicable regulatory framework differs materially across these classifications.
4. Organizational context — For employer-side inquiries, note the organization's approximate size (by employee count), industry sector, and whether the question involves a single-site or multi-location workforce.
5. Specific question or decision point — Frame the inquiry as a specific question or a defined decision the organization or individual is working through. Inquiries framed as open research requests ("tell me about compensation") are processed last.
6. Referenced source or page — If the inquiry arose from content already on this site, noting the specific page (for example, the compa-ratio reference or the FLSA and overtime rules overview) allows for faster routing to the relevant subject matter.

For inquiries related to international compensation structures, direct messages to International Compensation and Benefits Authority at the outset rather than routing through this domain. Cross-border inquiries submitted here will be forwarded, but direct submission reduces resolution time.

Response expectations

National Compensation Authority operates as a reference resource, not a legal services firm or HR consulting practice. Responses are informational, drawing on publicly documented regulatory frameworks, named compensation industry standards, and professionally established practices.

Standard response time for clearly structured inquiries is 3 to 5 business days. Inquiries that require routing to a member site or that involve multi-jurisdictional compliance questions may take up to 10 business days for a substantive response.

Responses will not include: legal opinions, specific pay recommendations calibrated to an individual's salary negotiation, tax treatment determinations, or identification of legal violations in a specific employer's pay practices. These categories require licensed legal or accounting professionals with access to case-specific facts.

Factual reference questions — such as how compa-ratio is calculated, what the FLSA's salary threshold for exempt status is (set at $684 per week under 29 CFR Part 541), or how pay ranges are typically structured — receive direct, sourced responses.

Additional contact options

For professionals researching employer-side compensation program design, the Compensation Authority contact function handles inquiries specific to pay strategy, salary benchmarking methodology, and incentive plan architecture. That site's scope is broader on the organizational design side and narrower on the statutory compliance side compared to this domain.

For questions involving expatriate pay policies, international salary surveys, or global benefits program structure, International Compensation and Benefits Authority maintains its own inquiry channel and covers country-specific regulatory frameworks that fall outside US domestic compensation law.

Researchers requiring source documentation for specific regulatory claims — FLSA provisions, Equal Pay Act requirements, or state-level pay transparency statutes — are directed to primary sources including the US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, the EEOC, and the NLRB for matters involving concerted activity and pay discussion rights.