Among the remedies included in the conciliation agreement, Oil States Skagit SMATCO, LLC has agreed to distribute $65,000 in back pay and interest to fourteen affected class members. Additionally, as Mechanic I positions become available, the contractor must extend job offers for those positions to qualified class members who apply, until seven minority class members have been hired, or until the list of class members who express interest is exhausted, whichever happens first. Oil States Skagit SMATCO, LLC has agreed to review their job descriptions, interview protocols, and hiring procedures for the Mechanic I position, as well as review their document retention policies.
It is important to note that this settlement is for total minorities, and not a specific race category. In recent years, OFCCP settlements have focused on allegations of discrimination or adverse impact against a specific race category, rather than total minorities. In the seven conciliation agreements related to race, included by OFCCP on their website for fiscal year 2017, this is the only one that has a protected class of total minorities. While contractors should continue to analyze their adverse impact with a favored group analysis that evaluates the impact against specific races, they would be prudent to not discount the impact against total minorities.
With the Oil States Skagit SMATCO, LLC conciliation agreement, OFCCP continues its recent trend of not publicizing compliance reviews settled with conciliation agreements including financial remedies. Contractors should keep a close eye on these types of settlements, as they can provide a view to the agency’s enforcement strategies and priorities as they shift into the new administration.
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