Tracey focuses on assisting federal contractors, including healthcare, life sciences and education clients, in compliance with employment laws and regulations.
Tracey O’Brien is co-lead of the firm’s OFCCP Compliance team and a member of the firm’s Labor & Employment practice group. Tracey is an experienced trial lawyer, defending clients against claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation and other related claims before administrative agencies and state and federal courts. She draws on her litigation experience to provide proactive guidance and counsel to clients on employment-related matters.
Tracey specifically focuses her practice on assisting federal supply and service as well as construction contractors and subcontractors with compliance obligations enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). She has significant experience in the development and maintenance of affirmative action plans, and provides counsel on affirmative action best practices regarding outreach, recruiting, hiring, applicant tracking, and other regulated employment processes. Tracey prepares federal contractors and subcontractors for federal compliance evaluations or “audits” of affirmative action programs conducted by OFCCP, engages in conciliation discussions with OFCCP, and advocates on behalf of clients against OFCCP overreach in enforcement. She also assists clients with assessment of compensation data to ensure the absence of unlawful pay disparities, and provides training to clients on compliance with affirmative action obligations, applicant tracking, pay transparency laws, and EEO protections against discrimination, retaliation, and harassment. Tracey works with in-house counsel as well as HR teams across multiple industries, including the healthcare, education, banking, engineering, manufacturing, and research industries.
More generally, Tracey routinely assists clients with their task of maintaining compliance with continuously evolving state laws relating to personnel and leave policies, and with conducting adverse impact analyses related to reductions in force.