Laura A. Mitchell

Photo of Laura A. Mitchell

Laura Mitchell is a Principal in the Denver, Colorado, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She represents management exclusively in all areas of employment law, focusing on affirmative action and government contractor compliance.

Ms. Mitchell is a Principal in the firm’s Affirmative Action and OFCCP Defense practice group, representing government and non-government contractors in Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) matters, preparing for and defending OFCCP audits, and counseling employers on issues stemming from OFCCP regulations. Ms. Mitchell personally oversees the development of hundreds of AAPs each year and is intimately involved in the defense of numerous OFCCP audits. Ms. Mitchell also spends significant time counseling clients in connection with conducting pay equity analyses.

Ms. Mitchell is also on the leadership team for the firm’s Government Contractor Industry Group and a member of the firm’s Pay Equity Resource Group.

Ms. Mitchell is an editor and principle contributor of The Affirmative Action Law Advisor blog and frequently presents on pay equity, affirmative action compliance, OFCCP enforcement trends, and government contractor obligations.

Prior to joining Jackson Lewis, Ms. Mitchell counseled management as an in house attorney with a national telecommunications company.

JD Supra Readers Choice Top Author 2018

Firm/Organization: Jackson Lewis P.C.
Blogs: Pay Equity Advisor Blog, Affirmative Action & OFCCP Law Advisor, Disability, Leave & Health Management Blog

Latest Articles

Appearing in today’s federal register is OFCCP’s request for comment on the proposed structure and details of the agency’s new Excellence in Disability Inclusion Award.  The award will highlight successful practices and strategies of contractors that have expanded and improved recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion opportunities for individuals with disabilities. In August, at the ILG National Conference, Acting Director Leen announced the Agency’s intention to develop programs to recognize contractors for their excellence in affirmative action.  Following the…
In continued commitment to restoring the Agency’s relationship with the contractor community, OFCCP recently announced it has entered into a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with the National Industry Liaison Group (“NILG”) in order to foster collaboration between the federal contractor community and OFCCP. For those not familiar with the organization, the NILG is a non-profit organization formed in 1992 that focuses on affirmative action and equal employment opportunity for federal contractors and other employers. …
It appears OFCCP has made some updates to its latest Corporate Scheduling Announcement List release.  When accessing the current publicly available list through OFCCP’s website, the resulting file now displays a header which indicates the file contains “addresses updated as of September 24, 2018.”  Upon close review and comparison with the original list posted last week, it seems OFCCP has updated city and state information for some the establishments selected as part of the supplemental selection process. …
Wondering whether your organization has been selected for an upcoming audit as part of OFCCP’s recent Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letter (CSAL) list supplement?  Well, wonder no more.  OFCCP has made publicly available its most recent CSAL supplement as well as the two previous CSAL lists (2017 and 2018). As a reminder, CSALs are a “courtesy notification to an establishment selected to undergo a compliance evaluation” and are sent in advance of the actual scheduling…
There is no rest for the weary at OFCCP.  Continuing the steady flow of Directives and proposals as well as audits coming out of Washington D.C., the Agency has released two additional directives in furtherance of the Administration’s commitment to transparency and certainty. The first, Directive 2018-08: Transparency in OFCCP Compliance Activities  will “ensure transparency in all stages of OFCCP compliance activities to help contractors comply with their obligations and know what to expect during…
Has your organization ever considered switching from “establishment” AAPs to functional affirmative action plans (“FAAPs”)?  OFCCP wants contractors to consider moving to FAAPs and, in that spirit, is looking to make FAAPs more attractive by proposing new FAAP requirements that would lighten the burden for those who apply for, and those that already have, FAAP agreements with OFCCP.  OFCCP last modified the FAAP requirements in 2016 but the program was significantly changed in 2013 to its current structure.…
It’s been a little more than two weeks since OFCCP released its new Compensation Directive.  While we don’t yet have answers to all of the questions surrounding the Directive, we do have thoughts about what will likely change, and what will not, for federal contractors during compliance reviews. Since OFCCP has just released another round of advance notice letters about upcoming audits, time is of the essence to wrap your arms around how…
As we reported last week, OFCCP has released a supplemental list of contractors who have been selected for audit by the Agency.  In addition to releasing information about the supplemental list of CSALs, OFCCP also published a new FAQ addressing requests for extensions and a supplement to its recently disclosed scheduling methodology. Request for Extension FAQ One of the items raised in the GAO review of OFCCP was the rate of untimely audit submissions by…
OFCCP has been busy, and they are not slowing down.  Today, OFCCP issued an additional 750 Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letters (CSALs) to federal contractors providing advance notification of compliance reviews, in order to make sure the district and area offices “have a sufficient number of available establishments to schedule for compliance reviews until OFCCP releases a new scheduling list.” Consistent with the previous round of CSALs issued under the current administration, OFCCP states…
There’s been a lot of discussion in past days about OFCCP’s new Compensation Directive, which describes the Agency’s approach to investigating pay discrimination.  We’ve spent some time digging into the details of the directive.  We’ve previously shared our thoughts about the Directive’s commitment to transparency, and now, as promised, want to share our thoughts about the nuts and bolts of the Directive. In summary, while the Directive is certainly transparent and descriptive and contains clarifications,…