DOL Dropped Oracle Case Against Advice From In-House Lawyers

U.S. Labor Department leadership opted to not appeal its loss in a high-stakes lawsuit against Oracle despite warnings from in-house lawyers that abandoning the case would undermine the government’s future prosecution of pay discrimination.

Weeks before leadership announced their decision, the department’s most-senior civil rights attorney argued in a Nov. 13 memo that it would be “troubling” and present “significant obstacles” if DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs didn’t appeal an administrative law judge’s decision—which held that tech giant Oracle America Inc. hadn’t illegally underpaid women and minority employees, as the agency had asserted.

Dropping the case could have ...