Orrick Employment Team Secures Complete Win for Oracle Against U.S. Department of Labor

Siding with an Orrick employment team’s arguments, a U.S. Department of Labor Administrative Law judge today rejected a case brought against Oracle by the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and found no evidence of systemic workplace discrimination at the company. 

Judge Richard Clark issued a detailed 280-page ruling based on an exhaustive trial conducted last December followed by extensive post-trial briefing, concluding that “OFCCP has not established its claims.” The Orrick trial team for Oracle was led by San Francisco partners Erin Connell and Warrington Parker, and also included Senior Counsel Gary Siniscalco and Of Counsel Katie Mantoan.

The case is the most significant ever brought by OFCCP.  It has attracted national media attention as a bellwether test of discrimination claims in the tech sector. Oracle has consistently and strenuously denied there was any merit to the DOL’s allegations, originally brought in 2017. An Orrick team also represents Oracle in a federal lawsuit brought last December raising constitutional challenges to OFCCP’s authority to bring such cases within the DOL rather than in federal court.

“After four years of litigation, we are grateful for Judge Clark's ruling,” Oracle General Counsel Dorian Daley said in a statement. “In a more than 200-page decision, Judge Clark found no evidence of discrimination.  We have been subject to years of harassment by Department of Labor employees with no evidence of discrimination whatsoever.” Daley continued, "This case never should have been brought in the first place."

Judge Clark’s ruling included the following findings:

• Oracle did not engage in intentional compensation discrimination (wage-rate, salary, or total compensation) at its headquarters facility during the relevant time period against female employees in the Product Development, Information Technology, and Support job functions; or against Asian and African American employees in the Product Development job function.
• Oracle did not have a policy or practice at its headquarters facility during the relevant time period of relying on prior pay in salary setting and OFCCP did not show a disparate impact attributable to such a policy on female employees in the Product Development, Information Technology, and Support job functions; or on Asian and African American employees in the Product Development job function.

• Oracle did not engage in assignment, job classification, or steering discrimination at its headquarters facility during the relevant time period against female employees in the Product Development, Information Technology, and Support job functions; or against Asian and African American employees in the Product Development job function.

In addition to Erin, Warrington, Gary and Katie, the Orrick trial team also included San Francisco associates Kayla Grundy and Lara Graham, Silicon Valley associate Hannah Ghaffari, and Senior Paralegal Jacqueline Kaddah.