Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs

OFCCP administers and enforces three equal employment opportunity laws: Executive Order 11246, as amended; Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended; and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended, 38 U.S.C. § 4212 (VEVRAA). Collectively, these laws make it illegal for contractors and subcontractors doing business with the federal government to discriminate in employment because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. In addition, contractors and subcontractors are prohibited from discriminating against applicants or employees because they inquire about, discuss, or disclose their compensation or that of others, subject to certain limitations. Its regulations can be found at CFR Title 41 Chapter 60: Public Contracts and Property Management.

Seal

OFCCP, as it is today, was created in 1978 with Executive Order 12086 by President Jimmy Carter through a consolidation of all the Affirmative Action enforcement responsibilities at each federal agency with Executive Order 11246 to the United States Secretary of Labor.

The origins of the agency trace back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and World War II when he signed Executive Order 8802, preventing discrimination based on race by government contractors.

In 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the President’s Committee on Government Contracts with Executive Order 10479. The order was a follow-up to Executive Order 10308 signed by President Harry S. Truman in 1951 establishing the anti-discrimination Committee on Government Contract Compliance.

In 1961 President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925 which created the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. This called for people to take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are hired and employees are treated during employment without regard to race, creed, color or national origin.

On September 24, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed EO 11246 transferring responsibility for supervising and coordinating the Federal Contract Compliance from the President’s Committee to the Secretary of Labor who established the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCC).

Executive Order 11375 by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 added sex discrimination to OFCCP’s mandate. In 1975 the name was changed from OFCC to OFCCP by President Gerald Ford. This reflected the addition of the responsibility to enforce laws prohibiting discrimination against the disabled and veterans.

Bush era

In 2003, the agency adopted its Active Case Management (ACM) procedures to speed up the processing of Supply and Service cases. This system was developed by then Deputy Director to the Deputy Assistant Secretary, William Doyle. [2] The system was developed because of a lower number of high profile discrimination cases developed after the end of the Clinton Administration. This disparity was because of slow down in traditional enforcement implemented in 2001 and 2002.[3]

The ACM procedure was a clear signal that OFCCP would no longer be enforcing the heart of its mandate, Affirmative Action. The implementation of the system also caused the agency to start 'creaming' its cases and only pursuing those cases that would produce a compensation or other discrimination case – this was a violation of the NationsBank court case.[4]

In 2005, the agency has recently helped develop new applicant and record keeping regulations covering internet applicants.[5][6]

Obama era

After eight years of neglect, the agency worked to return to relevance.[7] [8] This was signaled by the elimination of the Employment Standards Administration. During this time, some believe the career staff lacked competence or were motivated by job security. Additionally, many staff were believed to lack experience.[9]

Contrary to federal law, the agency gave out its annual reviews based on a bell curve. Actual performance did not matter.[10] The top management were all refugees from other agencies. Since it's hard to fire SES employees, they all wound up at OFCCP.

Trump era

The Trump era was a slow hobbling of the agency. At the end of the Trump Administration, OFCCP had less than half the staff that they had ten years before. Initially, Ondray Harris was chosen as the director of the agency.[11] His successor, Craig Leen, oversaw the implementation of Executive Order 13950.[12]

Past directors[13]

Portrait	Administrator	Took office	Left office
	Edward C. Sylvester, Jr.	1965	1968
	John L. Wilks	1969	1972
	George Holland	1972	1972
	Phillip J. Davis	1972	1974
	Lawrence Z. Lorber	1974	1977
	Weldon J. Rougeau	1977	1981
	Ellen Shong Bergman	1981	1984
	Joseph N. Cooper	1984	1987
	Jerry Blakemore	1987	1989
	Cari M. Dominguez	1989	1991
	Jaime Ramón	1992	1993
	Shirley J. Wilcher	1993	2001
	Charles E. James, Sr.	2001	2009
	Patricia A. Shiu	2009	2017
	Ondray T. Harris	2017	2018
	Craig E. Leen	2018	2021
	Jenny R. Yang	2021	2023
	Michele Hodge	2023	Present

In 2020, the OFCCP lost a $400 million lawsuit against Oracle.[14][15]

Organization chart

The OFCCP operates from six regional offices,[16] covering the following states:

• Mid-Atlantic: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia[17]
• Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin[17]
• Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Virgin Islands, Vermont[17]
• Pacific: Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington[17]
• Southeast: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee[17]
• Southwest and Rocky Mountain: Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming [17]

The national office has four divisions: Management & Administrative, Policy and Program Development, Program Operations, and the Office of Enforcement.[16]

• National Industrial Liaison Groups
• American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity
• National Urban League
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
• League of United Latin American Citizens

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

• List of OFCCP Deputy Assistant Secretaries
• Equal Opportunity Employment

• Official website
• OFCCP in the Federal Register
• The OFCCP Institute
• National Industrial Liaison Groups
• NILG Conference
• Affirmative Action
• The Center for Corporate Equality