U.S. Chamber, Six States Join Oracle to Fight DOL Enforcement

Businesses groups and Republican attorneys general from six states are supporting Oracle Corp.’s lawsuit against the Labor Department’s federal contractor watchdog.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the HR Policy Association, and other groups said in a brief Friday that the DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ anti-discrimination enforcement of federal contractors “far exceeds the agency’s statutory authority.” In a separate brief also filed Friday, attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, and West Virginia said the OFCCP exercises “unbridled lawmaking and judicial power alongside its proper executive role.”

The support for Oracle’s lawsuit against the OFCCP arrives after some Democratic attorneys general and two unions defended the agency, which enforces federal equal employment opportunity laws for federal contractors. Oracle workers in a separate suit scored against the technology company April 30 when a California state judge ruled that three employees can pursue a pay discrimination class action on behalf of more than 4,000 women.

Oracle sued the OFCCP in November, claiming it exceeded its authority to create an administrative trial system to adjudicate its allegations of discrimination, and that the trial system violates the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers.

The technology company’s claims against the OFCCP stem from years of litigation between the two entities. The OFCCP in 2017 accused the Redwood City, Calif.-based company of owing female and minority workers more than $400 million in wages, and the litigation has been contentious since the claims were made.

The case is Oracle Am., Inc. v. DOL, D.D.C., No. 1:19-cv-03574, amicus briefs filed 5/1/20.