Media Coverage
Source: The Recorder
Media Coverage
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Olivia Thomas
01.23.17
When the U.S. Department of Labor sued Oracle America Inc. this past Wednesday, the company became the third major Silicon Valley employer to be sued by the department within the last year. Among the complaints made against the company is the accusation that Oracle failed to comply with the rules that apply to federal government contractors about reporting their hiring and compensation data. In the complaint, the department is seeking to cancel the company’s existing government contracts, worth millions, and to preclude Oracle from future bidding.
Washington, DC Employment special counsel Julia Judish doesn’t think the Department of Labor will be successful with the latter part of the complaint. According to her, when it comes to suits over alleged federal contractor rule violations, most do not end in debarment or cancellation of contracts.
“That's very rare,” she told The Recorder. “This is clearly a shot across the bow.”
Judish also mentioned department’s suit against Palantir Inc. and its commonalities with the Oracle case, specifying that both are facing scrutiny for their reliance on employee referrals for hiring new workers.
“Employee referrals are not illegal,” Judish said. But she noted that “problems arise when you have a company that is already not diverse in its workforce. People like to hire people like them.”
Ultimately, Judish said, based on the complaints from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, it seems as if the department “is trying to change the hiring culture at these companies.”