OFCCP & Government Contractors 2019 Conference: Critical Issues for Government Contractors, Counsel & Compliance Staff
Practising Law Institute (PLI)
Speaking Engagement | February.11.2019 | 1pm - 5pm (Eastern Standard Time)
PLI New York CenterOrrick's Gary Siniscalco and Erin Connell will speak at this year's OFCCP & Government Contractors Conference in New York, NY. Erin will serve as a speaker for the session, "OFCCP 2018 Directive on Auditing Compensation Systems," and Gary will serve as a speaker for the session, "Understanding New Compensation Directive & OFCCP's Statistical Approach." This half-day program will bring together experienced in-house and outside counsel, as well as OFCCP leadership, to offer their high-level expertise on OFCCP activities and compliance.
OFCCP continues to be the premier government regulatory agency for contractors' compliance with non-discrimination and affirmative action requirements. The agency continues to aggressively pursue systemic hiring and pay equity. Under Acting Director Leen, the agency has recently issued multiple new directives.
What You Will Learn
- Candid advice and strategies for successfully responding to OFCCP compliance evaluations and investigations, including OFCCP's new procedures and criteria for assessing compensation
- New OFCCP initiatives on investigation, conciliation and enforcement
- Practical advice and insights on addressing and negotiating OFCCP audits, responding to the new pre-determination notice step, and resolving adverse findings
- The use (and misuse) of privilege by contractors and by OFCCP
- OFCCP's special focus on financial services, technology industry, and higher education employers
- OFCCP's new approaches to statistics
Special Feature:
- Convenient half-day program format
Who Should Attend
This program will offer high-value knowledge for in-house employment counsel, HR leaders with responsibility for EEO compliance, and any senior diversity leader, as well as outside counsel, who advise government contractors on their EEO compliance.
CLE Credits Available: Y
Practice:
- Employment Law & Litigation
- Discrimination, Harassment & Retaliation
- Trade Secrets Litigation
- Wage and Hour
- Cross Border Employment Law Issues
- Pay Equity
Gary Siniscalco Senior Counsel
San Francisco
Gary has handled numerous class actions, pattern and practice cases and government audits, in court and before the EEOC and Department of Labor. Most recently, Gary served as senior counsel on the Orrick team that obtained a complete dismissal for Oracle in OFCCP v. Oracle, a high-stakes systemic compensation discrimination case that garnered national media attention. Gary and the Orrick team was named "Litigator of the Week" by American Lawyer for their role in the successful defense of Oracle in litigation against the OFCCP. He brings a particularly unique perspective to clients on matters involving the EEOC, having served as regional counsel and senior trial attorney for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in San Francisco prior to joining Orrick.
Gary also has an extensive class actions practice, focusing on litigation, consent decree strategies and preventive advice. He has been designated as an expert or retained as special counsel in several federal court class actions throughout the United States.
Gary’s counseling practice extends beyond the United States and includes assisting U.S. multinational companies in dealing with complex employee issues in foreign jurisdictions
Gary is widely recognized as one the top management employment lawyers in the United States by every major ranking organization, including Chambers USA, the National Law Journal, Best of the Best USA (Euromoney), and Who’s Who Legal. Among management employment lawyers in the United States and Europe, Gary is ranked in the top 10 of Who’s Who international management labor and employment lawyers and is described as “absolutely superb.”
Gary also serves regularly on the NYU faculty for training federal judges on employment law, the OFCCP Institute, PLI International Employment Law and ABA Labor and Employment Law Section programs.
Practice:
- Employment Law & Litigation
- Pay Equity
Erin M. Connell Partner
San Francisco
Erin's practice covers all aspects of employment law. She defends employers in class actions and other complex cases, as well as in systemic investigations and audits by the EEOC, OFCCP, and the California CRD. Erin has led dozens of internal pay equity analyses and is a trusted advisor for several of the nation's most prominent employers on developing areas of employment law, including pay equity and pay transparency, DEI best practices, and the use of AI in employment decision making.
Erin also is an accomplished first chair trial lawyer. She has tried several cases before juries and in arbitration, and has obtained numerous defense summary judgment rulings and other favorable resolutions in state and federal court. Erin led the trial team that obtained a complete dismissal for Oracle in OFCCP v. Oracle, the largest pay equity case ever brought by OFCCP, which garnered national media attention and earned Erin recognition as a "Litigator of the Week" by the American Lawyer and a 2021 Employment MVP by Law360. As lead counsel, Erin also successfully obtained decertification in a statewide California pay equity class action, Jewett v. Oracle.
Erin's clients include leading technology and Fortune 500 companies, including: Oracle, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, Pinterest, Twitter, Workday, PayPal, Sony Interactive Entertainment, NVIDIA, Airbnb, SiriusXM, Dropbox, Amgen, Zendesk, Splunk and Goldman Sachs.
Erin is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco, a faculty member with the Institute for Workplace Equality (IWE), and frequently speaks on California and national employment law issues, including for IWE, the ABA, the Practicing Law Institute (PLI) and the American Employment Legal Council (AELC). She was formerly the management chair of the ABA Equal Employment Opportunity Committee. She has published numerous articles on employment law in publications around the country, including the ABA Journal of Law & Employment Law. She also provides employment law training and conducts internal investigations on employment-related matters.