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Penn State Law professor testified before Congress about Equal Opportunity Employment


Professor Michael Foreman, director of Penn State Law's Civil Rights Appellate Clinic and clinical professor, testified yesterday before the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee, Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, at a hearing on three bills addressing employment discrimination:

·         H.R. 4959, “EEOC Transparency and Accountability Act”  

·         H.R. 5422, “Litigation Oversight Act of 2014,”  

·         H.R. 5423, “Certainty in Enforcement Act of 2014

All three bills pertain to how the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces federal laws on workplace discrimination.

Foreman, who worked at the EEOC in its appellate division, in his testimony states that he has “a thorough understanding of what it takes to enable a government agency to effectively fulfill its statutory duty to fight the evil of workplace discrimination, and conversely what undermines the pursuit of this mission.”

With this background, he testified against these proposed bills, stating they would impede the EEOC in executing their agency objective.

The proposed legislative changes would stifle the EEOC’s ability to serve as a law enforcement agency and undermine Congress’ original intent of Title VII – to “…assure equality of employment opportunities and eliminate those discriminatory practices and devices which have fostered racially stratified job environments to the disadvantage of minority citizens.”

Foreman, an expert on civil rights and employment, was deputy director of Legal Programs for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law prior to joining Penn State. Additionally, he previously served as acting deputy general counsel for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, where he was the lead attorney for the commission's investigation of the voting irregularities in the 2000 presidential election.  

Read Professor Foreman's testimony 

Watch the video

Contacts:

Vanessa McLaughlin
vmclaughlin@psu.edu
Work Phone:
814-867-0396
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