Breaking OFCCP Update: There’s a New Director in Town?

The U.S. Department of Labor has confirmed that Ondray Harris will be stepping down as director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)—reportedly as early as by the end of this week. Harris’s appointment followed Thomas M. Dowd’s tenure as acting director and Patricia A. Shiu’s tenure as director.

According to recent reports, OFCCP Deputy Director Craig E. Leen will serve as the OFCCP’s interim director until the agency names a permanent director. Leen was previously anticipated to have been named OFCCP director, but Harris was named instead.

Before serving as deputy director, Leen was senior advisor to U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta. Previously, Leen was the city attorney for Coral Gables, Florida and an adjunct professor of law at Florida International University College of Law, where Acosta was dean. Secretary Acosta reportedly contacted Leen, who does not have a party affiliation, to request that he take a position in Washington, D.C.

Before becoming Coral Gables’ city attorney in 2011, Leen worked for the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office, serving as chief of the appeals section, and later, as chief of the federal litigation section. Prior to that, he worked in private practice and clerked for the late Honorable Robert E. Keeton, U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts. Leen received his law degree from Columbia Law School in 2000 and his bachelor of arts degree from Georgetown University in 1997.

The U.S. Department of Labor has not yet officially announced Leen’s appointment.