It is not uncommon for federal enforcement agencies to attempt to tie-up loose ends as the term of the Administration in power is about to expire, as is now the case with the Obama Administration. From a review of recent financial settlements involving enforcement actions brought by the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the agency appears to be focusing primarily on aging audit files in an effort to get open audits off the books before next January.
Earlier this year, OFCCP launched a new page on its website containing scanned copies of virtually all conciliation agreements (CAs), dating from the beginning of 2015 to the present, that contain financial settlement terms. Since then, a number of additional financial settlements with contractors have been announced by the agency, the vast majority of which involve audits that are at least 3-4 years old, with a few that have been open for about a decade. Our review suggests that OFCCP is in fact attempting to close as many pending enforcement matters as it can, although not at the expense of making any significant concessions.
While the bulk of these financial settlements involve allegations of hiring discrimination, which has always been OFCCP’s primary focus, there are some that include “steering” and testing issues, as well as a couple of noteworthy examples involving retaliation and failure to accommodate.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.