Labor Department Looking Into Discrimination at Law Firms

The substance of the following post come from an article published by Bloomberg Law on April 10th.

The Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) plans to take a closer look at diversity and discrimination at law firms. According to OFCCP's Director, "There is a big problem at law firms for women and women of color. Law firms need to get their houses in order". Six lawyers at one large law firm sued the firm alleging female attorneys are systemically paid less than their male colleagues for the same work. Similar lawsuits have been filed against two other large law firms.

The OFCCP enforces pay, hiring, promotion, and other discrimination protections for workers employed by Government contractors. Enforcement is done primarily through random audits but are also initiated when there are whistleblower or hotline complaints. Several national law firms were among the 3,500 Government contractors notified by OFCC that they could be selected for random audits in fiscal year 2019.

According to OFCCP, the issue of promotion will be a key focus of future reviews, not only at law firms but also financial firms, universities, and tech companies. It seems like the OFCCP has already reached foregone conclusions. The agency stated that discrimination and paid family leave issues are likely to blame for the relatively low share of female partners in many firms. Really? Perhaps they should perform their audits first and then report on the results.

Some firms that do business with the Government argue that OFCCP has no jurisdiction to investigate potential discrimination against partners since partners are consider owners of the firm and not employees. OFCCP counters this arguments by saying they have jurisdiction over employees who are not being promoted.

The OFCCP also intends to look at contractors for possible discrimination against workers with disabilities. OFCCP's director stated that the average law firm has no disabled partners.