Bipartisan Federal Agency Now at Full Strength
WASHINGTON -- Jenny R. Yang was sworn in today as Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Yang was nominated by President Obama on Aug. 2, 2012, and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on April 25, 2013, to serve a term expiring July 1, 2017.
With her arrival, the EEOC returns to its full complement of five commissioners. Yang joins Chair Jacqueline Berrien and Commissioners Constance Barker, Chai Feldblum and Victoria Lipnic to complete the five-member presidentially appointed bipartisan Commission, filling the position vacated by Stuart Ishimaru.
"I am delighted to welcome Jenny Yang to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission," said EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien. "Her expertise in employment discrimination law and experience as a litigator will be great assets to the agency, and I look forward to working with her and my other colleagues on the Commission to promote equal opportunity in the workplace."
Yang was a partner of Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll PLLC. She joined the firm in 2003, and she has represented thousands of employees across the country in numerous complex civil rights and employment actions. As chair of the firm's hiring and diversity committee, Yang has experience with the issues employers confront in making hiring and other personnel decisions.
Prior to joining Cohen Milstein, Yang served as a senior trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Employment Litigation Section, where she enforced federal laws prohibiting discrimination in employment by state and local government employers from 1998 to 2003. Before that, she worked at the National Employment Law Project to enforce the workplace rights of garment workers. Yang clerked for the Honorable Edmund Ludwig on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
"It is an incredible honor to serve as a Commissioner of the EEOC," said Commissioner Yang. "It is a privilege to work with so many talented and dedicated colleagues to ensure equal opportunity for all."
Yang previously served for over five years as vice chair and board member of the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance to low-income Asian Pacific Americans and small business owners in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
Yang received her B.A. from Cornell University in government. She received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a note and comment editor of the law review and a Root-Tilden public interest scholar. Yang and her husband, Kil Huh, director of the States' Fiscal Health Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts, have two sons.
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its website at www.eeoc.gov
