Patricia Shiu is a consultant on diversity and inclusion policies that reflect an organization’s mission, culture and brand. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Ms. Shiu served as the Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) at the Department of Labor (DOL) in Washington, DC from 2009-2016. OFCCP enforces laws that prohibit workplace discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and veteran status. OFCCP regulates the federal contractor community that employs approximately 20% of the American workforce.

While at DOL, Ms. Shiu and her team updated OFCCP regulations prohibiting discrimination and requiring affirmative action on the basis of sex, disability and veteran status. They also finalized new regulations, adding sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories, and prohibiting discrimination against applicants and employees who inquire about, discuss or disclose their or another employee’s compensation.

Ms. Shiu served on the White House National Equal Pay Task Force. She rescinded OFCCP’s outdated pay discriminationguidelines, replacing them with a directivethat comports with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Ms. Shiu and DOL collaborated with the EEOC on its Pay Data Collection tool. She also served as a member of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Ms. Shiu worked at the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center for 26 years as a litigator and Vice President of Programs in class action and individual discrimination cases on behalf of low-income workers and their families. Ms. Shiu represented Lillian Garland in California Federal Savings and Loan Association v. Guerra, 479 U.S. 272 (1987) upholding California’s pregnancy disability leave law; prevailed in Vinson v. Superior Court, 43 Cal.3d 833 (1987) limiting the scope of a plaintiff’s psychiatric examination by her employer in a sexual harassment case; and co-counseled Lopez v. San Francisco Unified School District, a successful class action brought on behalf of visually and hearing impaired students and their parents under federal disability laws.

Ms. Shiu’s policy work includes advocacy on the passage of the California Family Rights Act of 1991, the Family and Medical Leave Act, California’s Paid Family Leave Law, and inclusion of legal protections for LGBT individuals under California Law.

Ms. Shiu served as the President of California Women Lawyers, and is the recipient of The Williams Institute Women in Leadership Award, National Employment Law Project Honor Roll Award, and the Joe Morozumi Lifetime Achievement Award. Ms. Shiu started her legal career at Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro in San Francisco, California.