by Patricia Schaeffer, Vice President-Regulatory Affairs
On December 28, 2007, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced that in FY 2007 it had obtained $51,680,950 in back pay and annualized salary and benefits for 22,251 workers who had been subjected to unlawful employment discrimination.
Compliance Evaluations: OFCCP also noted it had conducted 4,923 compliance evaluations in FY 2007, which is a 4 percent change from 2001.
Glass Ceiling Audits: OFCCP also conducted 31 Corporate Management Compliance Evaluations (CMCEs), also known as “Glass Ceiling” audits in FY 2007.
Systemic Discrimination: OFCCP reports that 98 percent of the recovery was collected in cases of systemic discrimination. In FY 2007, there were 14 referred systemic discrimination cases, which compares to only nine cases referred in FY 2006. However, in FY 2005, there were 16 referred systemic discrimination cases.
Referrals to SOL: OFCCP also reports that a significant portion of the recoveries came from cases referred to the Office of the Solicitor (SOL) for enforcement litigation. In FY 2007, OFCCP reportedly obtained over $18 million in financial remedies for 6,890 workers in cases referred to SOL.
Initiatives: OFCCP attributed its results to the initiatives from the last several years which make the agency a “more effective and efficient civil rights enforcement agency.” In particular, OFCCP cited its Active Case Management (ACM) system and its Contracts First project as initiatives that have yielded dividends in enforcement.
