Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Encyclopedia
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is an independent federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, perceived intelligence, disability and retaliation for reporting and/or opposing a discriminatory practice. It is empowered to file discrimination suits against employers on behalf of alleged victims and to adjudicate claims of discrimination brought against federal agencies.

Background

The EEOC was established on July 2, 1965; its mandate is specified under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation...

, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008
ADA Amendments Act of 2008
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 is an Act of Congress, effective January 1, 2009, that amended the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and other disability nondiscrimination laws at the Federal level of the United States. Passed on September 17, 2008, and signed into law by President George W...

.

All Commission seats and the post of general counsel to the commission are filled by the President of the U.S. subject to confirmation by the Senate. Stuart J. Ishimaru, a Commissioner who was Senate-confirmed in 2003 and 2006, served as Acting Chair of the Commission from January 20, 2009 until December 22, 2010, when the U.S. Senate confirmed Jacqueline Berrien to be the chairman. She had been nominated as chairman by President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 in July 2009. In September 2009, Obama chose Chai Feldblum
Chai Feldblum
Chai Rachel Feldblum , November 27, 2008. MetroWeekly [Washington, DC].. Accessed October 11, 2009. is an American law professor at Georgetown University, author and activist for disability rights and LGBT rights...

 to fill another vacant seat,. Feldblum has been reported by Fox News to be controversial among conservatives and certain religious groups because of her prior activism on gay rights.

On March 27, 2010, Obama made recess appointment
Recess appointment
A recess appointment is the appointment, by the President of the United States, of a senior federal official while the U.S. Senate is in recess. The U.S. Constitution requires that the most senior federal officers must be confirmed by the Senate before assuming office, but while the Senate is in...

s of three Commission posts: Berrien, Feldblum and Victoria Lipnic. With the appointments, the Commission had its full complement of five commissioners: Ishimaru, Berrien, Feldblum, Lipnic and Constance Barker, who was confirmed by the Senate in 2008 to be a Commissioner. Obama also made a recess appointment
Recess appointment
A recess appointment is the appointment, by the President of the United States, of a senior federal official while the U.S. Senate is in recess. The U.S. Constitution requires that the most senior federal officers must be confirmed by the Senate before assuming office, but while the Senate is in...

 of P. David Lopez to be the EEOC's General Counsel.

On December 22, 2010, the Senate gave full confirmation to Berrien, Feldblum, Lipnic and Lopez.

Staffing, workload, and backlog

In 1975, when backlog reached more than 100,000 charges to be investigated, President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

's full requested budget of $62 million was approved. A "Backlog Unit" was created in 1978 in Philadelphia to resolve the thousands of federal equal employment complaints inherited from the Civil Service Commission
United States Civil Service Commission
The United States Civil Service Commission a three man commission was created by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which was passed into law on January 16, 1883...

.

In June 2006, civil rights and labor union advocates publicly complained that the effectiveness of the EEOC was being undermined by budget and staff cuts and the outsourcing of complaint screening to a private contractor whose workers were poorly trained. In 2006 a partial budget freeze prevented the agency from filling vacant jobs, and its staff had shrunk by nearly 20 percent from 2001. A Bush administration official stated that the cuts had been made because it was necessary to direct more money to defense and homeland security. By 2008, the EEOC had lost 25% of its staff over the previous eight years, including investigators and lawyers who handle the cases. The number of complaints to investigate grew to 95,400 in fiscal 2008, up 26 percent from 2006.

Although full-time staffing of the EEOC was cut between 2002 and 2006, Congress increased the commission's budget during that period (as it has almost every year since 1980). The budget was $303 million in fiscal year 2001 to $327 million in fiscal year 2006. The outsourcing to Pearson Government Solutions in Kansas cost the agency 4.9 million and was called a "huge waste of money" by the president of the EEOC employees' union in 2006.

EEOC Commissioners

Luther Holcomb, 1965-1974


Aileen Hernandez, 1965-1966
Aileen Hernandez
Aileen Clark Hernandez is an American union organizer and civil right activist. She was born May 23, 1926, in Brooklyn, NY, of Jamacian-American parents, was educated in New York City, and attended Howard University, where she received a magna cum laude degree in Political Science and Sociology;...




Vicente T. Ximenes, 1967-1971
Vicente T. Ximenes
Among his many achievements, Vicente T. Ximenes continues today as a Mexican-American civil rights leader. Ximenes was raised in the town of Floresville, Texas, where he, along with the Mexican American community, were subjected to racial segregation. After graduating from high school, Ximenes...




Samuel C. Jackson, 1965-1968


Richard Graham, 1965-1966
Richard Alton Graham
Richard Alton Graham was an American equal rights leader, one of the inaugural group of five members of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission...




Elizabeth Kuck, 1968-1970


Ethel B. Walsh, 1971-1980


Colston A. Lewis, 1970-1977


Raymond L. Telles, 1971-1976
Raymond Telles
Raymond L. Telles, Jr. was the first Mexican-American Mayor of a major American city, El Paso, Texas.Born in El Paso and educated as an accountant, Telles worked at the United States Department of Justice for eight years. He was drafted into the Army in 1941. Telles then served in the U.S...




J. Clay Smith, 1978-1982


Armando Rodriguez, 1978-1983


Cathie Shattuck, 1982-1983


Tony E. Gallegos, 1982-1994
Tony Gallegos
Tony Gallegos is an American businessman and politician of Mexican descendant.Prior to joining the civil service, Gallegos worked at the Douglas Aircraft Company in California in a number of managerial positions. During the 1980s, he served two terms as a Reagan appointee him to the U.S...




R. Gaull Silberman, 1984-1995
Rosalie (Ricky) Gaull Silberman
Ricky Silberman was an American conservative activist who, with Barbara Olson, co-founded the Independent Women's Forum.-Biography:...




Joy Cherian, 1987-1993
Joy Cherian
Dr. Joy Cherian is the first Asian American and first Indian American Commissioner at the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 in what was seen as a milestone. At the time he was the highest ranking Indian American in the US...




William Webb, 1982-1986


Fred Alvarez, 1984-1987


Evan J. Kemp, Jr., 1987-1993


Joyce Tucker, 1990-1996


Reginald E. Jones, 1996-2000

Chairs of the EEOC

No. Chair of the EEOC Picture Start of Term End of Term President(s)
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

1 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. May 26, 1965 May 11, 1966 Lyndon Johnson
2 Stephen N. Shulman
Stephen N. Shulman
Stephen Neal Shulman was a United States lawyer most notable for representing Egil Krogh during the Watergate scandal. He was also General Counsel of the Air Force in 1965 and Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1966 to 1967.-Biography:Stephen Neal Shulman was born April...

September 14, 1966 July 1, 1967 Lyndon Johnson
3 Clifford J. Alexander, Jr. August 4, 1967 May 1, 1969 Lyndon Johnson
4 William H. Brown, III
William H. Brown, III
William H. Brown, III is a Philadelphia attorney, who has had a distinguished career in public service and is viewed as a leader for the strides he made for African Americans in the legal profession...

May 5, 1969 December 23, 1973 Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

5 John H. Powell, Jr December 28, 1973 March 18, 1975 Richard Nixon
Acting Ethel Bent Walsh 1975 1975 Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

6 Lowell W. Perry
Lowell W. Perry
Lowell Wesley Perry was an American football player and coach, government official, businessman, and broadcaster. He was the first African American assistant coach in the National Football League , the first African American to broadcast an NFL game to a national audience, and Chrysler's first...

May 27, 1975 May 15, 1976 Gerald Ford
Acting Ethel Bent Walsh May 1976 May 1977 Gerald Ford
7 Eleanor Holmes Norton
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Eleanor Holmes Norton is a Delegate to Congress representing the District of Columbia. In her position she is able to serve on and vote with committees, as well as speak from the House floor...

May 27, 1977 February 21, 1981 Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

Acting J. Clay Smith, Jr. 1981 1982 Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

8 Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Succeeding Thurgood Marshall, Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Court....

May 6, 1982 March 8, 1990 Ronald Reagan
>Evan J. Kemp, Jr. March 8, 1990 April 2, 1993 Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

Acting Tony Gallegos
Tony Gallegos
Tony Gallegos is an American businessman and politician of Mexican descendant.Prior to joining the civil service, Gallegos worked at the Douglas Aircraft Company in California in a number of managerial positions. During the 1980s, he served two terms as a Reagan appointee him to the U.S...

1993 1994 Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

10 Gilbert Casellas September 29, 1994 December 31, 1997 Bill Clinton
Acting Paul Igasaki
Paul Igasaki
Paul M. Igasaki is the Chair and Chief Judge of the Administrative Review Board at the U.S. Department of Labor. Previously he was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Equal Justice Works, a national organization that advances public interest law through fellowships, loan repayment programs, pro...

1998 1998 Bill Clinton
11 Ida L. Castro October 23, 1998 August 13, 2001 Bill Clinton
12 Cari M. Dominguez
Cari M. Dominguez
Cari M. Dominguez was the United States's 12th Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . She was nominated by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Her five-year term expired on July 1, 2006....

August 6, 2001 August 31, 2006 George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

13 Naomi C. Earp
Naomi C. Earp
Naomi Churchill Earp was, until 2009, Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She was designated by President George W. Bush in 2006, succeeding Cari M. Dominguez. Prior to her appointment as Chair, she had served as Vice Chair of the commission since 2003. A native of Newport...

September 1, 2006 2009 George W. Bush
Acting Stuart J. Ishimaru

January 20, 2009 April 7, 2010 Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

14 Jacqueline A. Berrien


April 7, 2010 Present Barack Obama

See also

  • Equal Pay Act of 1963
    Equal Pay Act of 1963
    The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is a United States federal law amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex . It was signed into law on June 10, 1963 by John F. Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program...

  • Title VII Civil Rights Act of 1964
  • Pregnancy discrimination
    Pregnancy discrimination
    Pregnancy discrimination occurs when expectant women are fired, not hired, or otherwise discriminated against due to their pregnancy or intention to become pregnant...

  • Race and ethnicity (EEO)
    Race and ethnicity (EEO)
    The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires employers to report various information about their employees, in particular, their racial/ethnic categories to prevent discrimination based on race/ethnicity...

  • ADA Amendments Act of 2008
    ADA Amendments Act of 2008
    The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 is an Act of Congress, effective January 1, 2009, that amended the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and other disability nondiscrimination laws at the Federal level of the United States. Passed on September 17, 2008, and signed into law by President George W...

    (ADAAA)

  • Another good news article is http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/nyregion/discrimination-suit-against-bloomberg-lp-is-dismissed.html?_r=1&ref=equalemploymentopportunitycommission which discusses the fairly recent case involving allegations against Bloomberg unfairly treating pregnant women. Bloomberg won because of a lack of statistics on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's part. However, it is still possible for the federal government to appeal and the witnesses can individually sue Bloomberg for discrimination.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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