NT Lakis attorneys are pleased to present our latest summary of recent financial settlements arising from OFCCP complaints and compliance reviews. The agency has recently announced eleven settlements worth reviewing. The agency’s focus continues to be on resolving older audits: all of the settlements in our summary involve audits that began four, five, six, or even seven years ago.
Cleaning up these old audits is consistent with the expressed desire of new OFCCP Director Ondray Harris that finding a path for compliance evaluation completion should be a reasonable expectation in most audits. Acknowledging the number of pending aged audits and the length of time many have been open, Director Harris told attendees of the Center for Workplace Compliance’s Policy Conference that OFCCP would be concentrating on any cases that have been open for 1,000 days or more and attempting to identify how the agency can cooperate and close the reviews.
Notably, only two of the cases discussed in our summary involve allegations of compensation discrimination, despite the emphasis placed on such cases by former OFCCP Director Patricia Shiu. Also included is a claim of housing discrimination, demonstrating that any employment selection decision can be subject to agency scrutiny. In addition, there is also a rare allegation of gerrymandering and an alleged violation for “improperly” implementing OFCCP’s Internet Applicant Rule.
Please keep in mind that just because a contractor decides to settle a dispute by way of a conciliation agreement with OFCCP does not necessarily mean the agency’s allegations would hold up in court.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.