Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)
Biography – Patricia A. Shiu
Director
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Patricia A. Shiu serves as the Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor. She leads a staff of nearly 800 men and women around the country who are dedicated to protecting workers, promoting diversity and enforcing the law. OFCCP was established in 1965 by presidential Executive Order 11246. Over the years, OFCCP’s authority has been expanded by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. As amended, these three laws hold federal contractors and subcontractors to the fair and reasonable standard that they take affirmative action in employment and not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, religion, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. Director Shiu also serves on the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force which has been charged by President Barack Obama with cracking down on violations of equal pay laws and fulfilling, once and for all, the promise of the 1963 Equal Pay Act. She also represents Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis on the federal Interagency Working Group of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. |
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Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Ms. Shiu served as Vice President for Programs at the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center in San Francisco. Ms. Shiu joined the Employment Law Center in 1983 as a staff attorney and spent 26 years representing workers in both individual and class action cases focused on employment discrimination. Her cases addressed issues such as gender, race, sexual orientation, national origin, immigration, disability, domestic violence and harassment. She has also litigated wage and hour and reproductive health hazard cases. As the Director of the Legal Aid Society’s Work and Family Project, Ms. Shiu advocated for the passage of California’s Family Rights Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and Paid Sick Leave. She also fought to expand educational access for vulnerable students under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act and disability laws. Ms. Shiu began her legal career as an associate with Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro in San Francisco. She was the President of California Women Lawyers in 1987. In 1993, she was appointed to the Civil Rights Reviewing Authority for the Department of Education by Secretary Richard Riley. Ms. Shiu served as the Vice President of the National Employment Lawyers Association and was recognized in 2009 with the Joe Morozumi Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the 2002 recipient of the Abby J. Leibman Pursuit of Justice Award, and the Pacific Asian American Women Bay Area Coalition's “Woman Warrior Award.” Ms. Shiu is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the University of San Francisco School of Law.
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