A federal district court has temporarily blocked the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs from continuing enforcement proceedings against a janitorial services company that allegedly violated Executive Order 11246 by engaging in racially discriminatory hiring. The September 9 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas came in ABM Industry Groups v. U.S. Department of Labor.
The court reasoned that ABM is likely to succeed in proving that OFCCP’s administrative enforcement regime is unconstitutional and therefore barred OFCCP from continuing its enforcement proceedings while the court considers the case’s merits. Relying on the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Jarkesy v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the district court reasoned that restrictions on removing ALJs from their jobs appear inconsistent with the President’s duty to control executive branch functions.
DOL will have an opportunity to appeal. The injunction applies only to this matter between OFCCP and ABM, but it likely will impair OFCCP’s ability to move forward with or initiate other cases.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, can read more here.