Welcome to Labor of Law. For companies scrambling to respond to the #MeToo movement, there's a playbook to hire outside firms. Plus: What changes might we expect at the U.S. Labor Department's contract compliance office? And we've got an early report on what could be the next big gender-pay case at SCOTUS. Scroll down for the latest moves and who got the work.

➤➤ I'm Erin Mulvaney in Washington, D.C., covering labor and employment from the Swamp to Silicon Valley. Follow this weekly newsletter for the latest analysis and happenings. If you have a story idea, feedback or just want to say hi, I'm at [email protected] and on Twitter @erinmulvaney. Thanks for reading.

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#MeToo Playblook: Outside Firms and Internal Investigations

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, companies raced to hire outside firms to investigate top to bottom and dig into how sexual harassment can be stamped out. Some of these investigations played out publicly, particularly if the company has been targeted for such offenses.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius was hired for investigations at National Public Radio and Fidelis Investments. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher completed at investigation at Wynn Resorts. Fox News turned to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison for claims against Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly. Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling took on different elements of Uber's purportedly toxic workplace culture. CBS's directors hired Covington and Debevoise & Plimpton in the fallout from the Les Moonves scandal. My colleague Dan Packel takes a deep dive in The American Lawyer.

Here are some highlights:

➤➤ “As you got to the fall of last year and the Harvey Weinstein allegations were made public and the cascade of allegations came after that, it just dawned on me that this was a tipping point, of sorts, with respect to issues that I'd worked on for my entire career,” said Ann Marie Painter, chair of Perkins Coie's labor and employment practice. Her firm created a cross-practice group focused on workplace harassment. The firm saw value in teaming up corporate governance specialists with white-collar defenders and attorneys familiar with management issues.

➤➤ Jackson Lewis principal Samia Kirmani, who leads the firm's workplace training practice group, says the firm has seen increased demand for performing and advising investigations, along with requests for training on how to respond to reports of bad behavior and how to implement guidelines to get ahead. “We have always been focused on preventative practices and training. It's less of a focus on capitalizing on opportunity and more a, 'Let's make sure we can meet our clients' needs,” she said.

➤➤ There's a spectrum of harassment investigations, said Ropes & Gray's Joan McPhee, who heads the firm's the recently constituted sexual misconduct and workplace harassment initiative at the firm. There are those conducted by the affected entity, inquiries handled by a company's go-to outside counsel and sometimes those conducted on a one-off basis by an unconnected firm. That's the strategy employed by the U.S. Olympic Committee in the investigation into the decades-long abuse by former gymnastics team director Larry Nassar, who has been convicted on multiple counts of sexual assault. A special committee of directors for the USOC hired Ropes & Gray to conduct an independent investigation.

“There's no traditional attorney-client relationship, past or present,” McPhee said, speaking generally about this type of investigation. “And they are operating independently, typically without any privilege, necessarily without any guidance on how to report the facts, and no interim reporting to the organization that appointed the internal investigation.”

➤➤ Attorneys noted that the investigations' sources—who often double as victims—may feel suspicious or even hostile toward figures connected to their employer. That creates an advantage for independent investigations. Employment attorneys said these factors are giving companies and institutions cause to call in outside attorneys faster than they would for a traditional investigation.

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What's the OFCCP Turnover Mean?

Trump-appointed Ondray Harris resigned as director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs only eight months after he took the post.

What should employers be thinking now?

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe attorneys Christopher Wilkinson and David B. Smith—writing recently at the firm's Equal Pay Pulse blog—predicted the departure should not change priorities. What changes might be in store? “Little, if any,” they write.

“OFCCP drafted its last two budgets without input from Harris, and other appointed and career officials have led the agency longer than Harris during the Trump administration. As such, we do not expect to see any large policy shifts.”

Obama-era compensation guidance is still in place despite “day 1″ predictions the measure would be rescinded. “Factors such as the overall deliberate nature of Secretary Alexander Acosta's tenure at the Department of Labor and the high number of vacancies at the White House contributed to not allowing OFCCP to move freely on this high priority,” according to the Orrick lawyers.

Federal contractors should “not assume that the lack of an appointed director puts them at ease,” the Orrick lawyers said. The tech and financial sectors remain areas where the agency will focus attention. Acting OFCCP director Craig Leen on Aug. 10 issued a directive pressing religious freedom protections under federal law in the agency's enforcement activities.

What we're watching: At the end of the Obama administration, the Labor Department took on major gender discrimination cases at Oracle, JPMorgan and Google. These pending cases tackle alleged pay discrepancies. We recently reported that attorneys for JP Morgan attempted to stall the OFCCP's case, citing the Supreme Court ruling in Lucia v. SEC.

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Who Got the Work

>> Outten & Golden attorneys inked a settlement for Uber Technologies to pay $1.9 million to 56 current and former employees who alleged sexual harassment and hostile work environment. A hearing in California federal court to approve the settlement will be held later this year. The company was represented by Paul Hastings lawyers Nancy Abell and Paul Cane Jr. The Outten & Golden team included Jahan Sagafi, Adam Klein and Rachel Bien. Read the settlement here.

>> A Pennsylvania federal court found TL Transportation LLC, a company that delivers products for Amazon.com, violated federal and state law by paying workers a flat rate despite the number of hours worked. The court said DOL rules require companies to base pay on what an hourly employee actually works. The plaintiffs were represented by lead attorneys Bruce Ludwig of Willig, Williams & Davidson and Sarah Schalman-Bergen at Berger Montague. TL Transportation and Amazon.com were represented by James Walsh, Justin Victor and Richard Rosenblatt at Morgan Lewis & Bockius. Read more at Bloomberg Law.

>> A UPS employee filed a lawsuit arguing he should be allowed to wear a uniform while criticizing the company. The company claims trademark law forbids the use of its logo, colors. Read the complaint here. Public Citizen's Paul Alan Levy represents the employee along with Zack Greenamyre of the Atlanta-based Mitchell & Shapiro.

Notable Moves

>> James Paretti, former chief of staff and senior counsel to the EEOC Acting Chair Victoria Lipnic, has joined Littler Mendelson as a shareholder in Washington. Paretti will join the firm's Workplace Policy Institute. Littler also hired Jamie Laurent as a shareholder in Los Angeles. Laurent joined the firm from boutique firm Marron Lawyers.

>> Polsinelli recruited an immigration law team for its Atlanta office led by shareholder Raazia “Roz” Hall, who was most recently at Jackson Lewis. Two associates are also joining the team: Katherine “Kate” Smith, who came from Alston & Bird and Terra Martin, who joined from Duane Morris.

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Around the Water Cooler

>> A major pay equity case confronting whether prior salary can be considered in compensation decisions could make its way to the Supreme Court. The Jones Day attorneys for a California school district said settlement talks have stopped and now they will file a petition next week. [National Law Journal]

>> Fast-food chains in Washington state announced they will change policies that prevent workers from switching jobs within individual brands, part of the movement away from no-poach agreements. [The New York Times]

>> LGBT advocates say a Labor Department directive aimed at protecting religious liberty could give employers a pass to discriminate under the guise of recent Supreme Court decisions and executive orders from the Trump administration. [NBC News]

>> New York state and New York City are among the local governments reacting to the #MeToo movement, passing packages of laws aimed at combating sexual harassment. Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney attorneys Randi May and Kathleen Lowden look at what employers need to know. [Law.com]

>> A recent study found women are 20 percent more likely to lose their jobs, and 30 percent less likely to find new employment, compared to men in similar positions. They call it the “punishment gap” in the financial industry. [Corporate Counsel]

>> A year after Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston area, some workers are still waiting for unpaid wages from employers. [Reveal News]

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