Jenny Yang Sworn In as EEOC Commissioner

With the swearing in this week of Jenny Yang to serve as one of five commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency is now fully staffed to carry out its work ensuring that all Americans receive fair and equal treatment when seeking employment.

Civil and human rights advocates welcomed Yang’s appointment. “As the only Asian American in a senior leadership position at the EEOC, Commissioner Yang will bring an important diverse perspective and experience in her role for setting policy for the agency, ” said Mee Moua, president and executive director of the Asian American Justice Center, following Yang’s unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate on April 25.

The National Employment Law Project (NELP), where Yang had worked assisting garment workers, said “Commissioner Yang’s career in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and as a civil and employment rights partner at the law firm Cohen, Millstein well qualifies her to provide thoughtful leadership on the Commission.“

Yang was nominated by President Obama in August 2012. She was most recently a partner in the law firm of Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll PLLC and has served as vice-chair of the board of directors of the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center. Yang was also national co-chair and board member of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. From 1998 to 2003, Yang was as Senior Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Employment Litigation Section.

“Throughout her career, Jenny Yang has shown dedication to using the law to ensure equal opportunity in employment for all Americans,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Her work at the Department of Justice, as a federal judicial law clerk, in private practice, and at the National Employment Law Project make an EEOC appointment a natural fit for her abilities.”