Kalpana Kotagal’s Long-Awaited Confirmation Today as EEOC Commissioner Is Good News for Workers
(Washington, D.C.) Today, the Senate in a 49-47 vote, confirmed Kalpana Kotagal as Commissioner to the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) after an 18-month-long wait.
The following is a statement by Emily Martin, Vice President for Education and Workplace Justice at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC):
“After a year-and-a-half-long wait that left the EEOC weakened and deadlocked on crucial workplace issues, Kalpana Kotagal’s confirmation today bodes well for workers across the country. Kotagal’s impressive 15-year track record in detecting and tackling systemic discrimination in workplaces across industries—especially discrimination harming the most vulnerable workers—will be key to fulfilling the EEOC’s mission to root out discrimination. At this critical moment, workers are contending with a backlash to diversity and inclusion initiatives, increasing attacks on individuals seeking reproductive health and gender affirming care, a range of extremist legal attacks on the scope of civil rights laws, and the pandemic’s repercussions, particularly on workers with caregiving responsibilities. The need for a fully functioning EEOC could not be more urgent. Kotagal’s confirmation positions the EEOC and the Biden administration to effectively confront sex harassment and LGBTQI discrimination, advance pay equity and pregnancy accommodations, and much more.”