The Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is engaged in a formal dispute with Google Inc. regarding the amount of information the agency is demanding the company turn over as part of a routine compliance audit.
Last month, a Department of Labor (DOL) Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued a recommended decision and order in OFCCP v. Google Inc., 2017-OFC-00004, concluding that the legal theory that OFCCP is pursuing in support of its voluminous data request is “legally questionable,” and, at least at this point in the investigation, amounts to “little more than speculation.” At the same time, the ALJ did give OFCCP a partial victory by ordering the company to turn over some (but not all) of the information that the agency seeks.
Under the standard procedures that apply to formal DOL administrative enforcement actions, the ALJ’s recommended decision has now been forwarded to DOL’s Administrative Review Board (ARB) for review. Upon receiving the case, ARB General Counsel Janet Dunlop quickly issued two orders, the first removing the case from the Labor Department’s “expedited hearing” procedures, and the second extending through late September the time for the parties to file “exceptions” to the ALJ’s recommendations. In practical terms, these orders likely mean that the case will continue for at least several additional months before a final administrative ruling is issued, and perhaps much longer.
Given the high profile of the Google case, NT Lakis attorneys explain the ARB review process and how this case might play out.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.