The White House has cleaned up cabinet agencies of Trump appointees, which is fair enough, but one hiring is particularly noteworthy. The Department of Labor is bringing back a lawyer who was fired after leading an unfounded year-long smear campaign against Oracle.
Janet Herold led Labor’s 2017 lawsuit against Oracle, alleging that women and minorities were systematically discriminated against for pay. The complaint was based on statistical patterns by numbers and found no evidence that Oracle had deliberately discriminated against. An administrative judge gutted Ms. Herold’s complaint in September and stated in a 280-page statement that “there was no good evidence of this [Labor’s] Claiming that Oracle executives knew, hid, and ignored widespread differences. “
This has long been clear, which is why one of Ms. Herold’s older colleagues tried to settle the Oracle case for $ 10 to 20 million. Still, Ms. Herold insisted it could be properly settled for no less than $ 150 million to $ 300 million. The largest such settlement in history is $ 14 million.
Why was Frau Herold so implacable? “The most critical part of this enforcement action is the public broadcasting and discussion of common industry wage practices that depress the wages of women and people of color,” she wrote to the department’s attorney, adding that a public trial “would do harm” [Oracle’s] Reputation in the industry and hinder their ability to retain top talent. “
Ah. The case should therefore be an identity-political show trial. Ms. Herold also made allegations against Google for “systematically compensating and ceasing to discriminate” against women and Asians. Last week, Google settled for a modest $ 3.8 million.
