Key Leadership Changes at OFCCP Indicate Focus on Current Enforcement Objectives Likely to Continue

Jackson Lewis has learned that the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has made several key leadership changes at the Agency:

• Lorenzo Harrison, currently serving as OFCCP’s Acting Deputy Director and formerly served as the Agency’s Regional Director of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions, has been named Deputy Director.  He will report directly to the Deputy Assistant Secretary (Head of OFCCP), the position currently held by Patricia A. Shiu. 
• Patsy Baker Blackshear will assume the position of OFCCP’s Director of the Division of Program Operations at OFCCP’s National Office.  She had formerly served in this role.  Ms. Blackshear was serving in the Employment & Training Administration at the time of her appointment. 
• Bruce Bohanan becomes Director of the Division of Program Policy and Planning in OFCCP’s National Office.  Mr. Bohanan previously held various roles in the Agency’s Southeast Region and in the National Policy Division.  He was serving in the Employment Standards Administration at the time of his appointment.

Although OFCCP’s new leader, Patricia A. Shiu, surely will put her own “stamp” on the Agency’s enforcement efforts, the return of these officials strongly suggests a continuation of many of OFCCP’s enforcement strategies.  Contractors should remain focused on issues of systemic discrimination in compensation and hiring, as they have for the past several years.

If you have any questions about affirmative action compliance issues in general, please contact an attorney in our Affirmative Action and OFCCP Diversity Planning practice group.