Kenneth Wolfe, director of the Department of Labor’s faith center, has also been appointed to lead the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). The OFCCP oversees federal contractors and enforces anti-discrimination laws, covering roughly 20 to 25 percent of the American workforce. The office uses labor economists and statistical experts to analyze workforce data and lawyers to pursue court actions. It can obtain class settlements and require changes to company policies and practices. The OFCCP has historically been a primary civil-rights enforcement mechanism. Under President Donald Trump, staffing losses and executive orders limiting diversity, equity, and inclusion actions have reduced enforcement capacity. A later executive order requires federal contractors to avoid DEI-related discrimination.
"Kenneth Wolfe, the director of the DOL's faith center, is now also leading the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the office tasked with making sure that federal contractors comply with anti-discrimination laws. Wolfe's appointment was quietly announced earlier this month, after the agency released its proposed 2027 budget in April, which would eliminate the office entirely."
"Because it oversees federal contractors, the OFCCP had jurisdiction over "roughly 20 to 25 percent of the American workforce," says Keir Bickerstaffe, who served as an attorney with the DOL for 16 years before leaving at the end of former president Joe Biden's term in January 2025. The OFCCP employed labor economists and statistical experts who could examine workforce data for discrimination, and its lawyers could take companies to court."
""The OFCCP could get settlements on behalf of an entire class of people, it could seek changes to company policies and practices to eliminate discrimination," says Bickerstaffe. For many years, it was the agency's primary mechanism for enforcing civil rights laws."
"Under President Donald Trump, however, the OFCCP has lost a substantial number of employees to resignations and reductions in force. In one of his first acts in 2025, Trump signed an executive order titled "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity," which ordered all agencies to end all "diversity, equity, and inclusion" actions within government and "combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities." This heavily blunted OFCCP's enforcement abilities."
#department-of-labor #ofccp #federal-contractor-compliance #anti-discrimination-enforcement #dei-executive-orders
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