On January 4, 2021, Oracle agreed to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the validity of the Department of Labor’s unusual regime for trying discrimination claims against government contractors. The case arose in response to enforcements actions by the DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Under the agency’s current enforcement system, discrimination claims against government contractors are not prosecuted in federal court but rather by the OFCCP itself, which has assumed for itself the right to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate discrimination claims against government contractors. As WLF’s amicus brief made clear, however, no federal law authorizes the OFCCP’s extraordinary enforcement regime. In fact, Congress has expressly declined to give agencies, such as the EEOC, the broad and unfettered authority to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate discrimination lawsuits entirely in-house. WLF’s amicus brief was drafted by Jeffrey M. Harris and Alexa R. Baltes of Consovoy McCarthy PLLC.
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