The Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has announced the hire of an Ombud, thus moving forward with a big step to develop the Ombud Service announced by the agency in a directive issued last September. The Ombud program is another component of OFCCP’s ongoing effort to encourage voluntary compliance by federal contractors with OFCCP regulations through increased transparency, communication, and cooperation between the regulated community and the agency.
The new Ombud, Marcus Stergio, comes to OFCCP from a Boston-based dispute resolution firm, and according to the agency has administered dispute resolution programs “for a number of multi-national organizations, companies, and institutions.” His first task as the new OFCCP Ombud will be “to design, implement and execute” the actual Ombud Service, including “development of detailed procedures and guidelines” and an outreach campaign to OFCCP stakeholders.
OFCCP’s September 2018 directive describes the Ombud Service as an impartial means of helping to “facilitate the fair and equitable resolution” of concerns raised by federal contractors, as well as to make recommendations for improvements to the agency. In its announcement of Mr. Stergio’s appointment, OFCCP states that he will “provide assurance to contractors … that OFCCP is treating them fairly” and will work “to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of internal OFCCP operations.”
OFCCP’s announcement of Mr. Stergio’s hire can be found online.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.