Karla Gilbride | |
---|---|
![]() | |
General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | |
Assumed office October 23, 2023 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Sharon Fast Gustafson |
Personal details | |
Education | Swarthmore College (BA) Georgetown University (JD) |
Karla Gilbride is an American attorney and civil rights litigator currently serving as the General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). [1] [2] Gilbride is the first individual with a known disability to serve as the General Counsel of the EEOC,and holds the distinction of being the first blind lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court. [3]
Gilbride graduated Swarthmore College,earning a degree in Linguistics in 2002 with highest honors. Her thesis was titled,"The Relationship Between Infant-Directed Prosody and Indices of Lexical Acquisition at 15 Months of Age." [4] Gilbride graduated from Georgetown Law Center in 2007. [5]
Gilbride clerked for Judge Ronald Gould on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Gilbride argued Morgan v. Sundance before the Supreme Court of the United States successfully with the court ruling in Gilbride's client's favor 9–0,overruling the Eighth Circuit. [6] [7] [8] Slate Magazine described Gilbride's performance as “one of those rare arguments in which you can hear an advocate changing the court's mind in real time.” [9]
On January 3,2023,President Joe Biden announced his nomination of Gilbride to fill the chief legal post at the EEOC,a post which had been vacant for the prior 22-months following Biden's removal of Trump-appointed Sharon Gustafson. [10] [11] The Senate confirmed Gilbride by a vote of 50–46 on October 17. [12]
On April 24,2024,the EEOC announced that DHL,a transport and logistics provider,would pay a $8.7 million settlement to a group of 83 Black employees in an anti-discrimination case. [13] In the lawsuit filed in September 2010 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois,the EEOC charged that the company assigned Black employees to more difficult and more dangerous routes than white employees. The settlement was the largest announced by the EEOC since March 2022. [8] Gilbride said in an EEOC statement that "telling Black workers that their lives and their safety concerns are valued less than the lives and concerns of their white coworkers... is plainly unlawful." [14]
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race,color,national origin,religion,sex,age,disability,genetic information,and retaliation for participating in a discrimination complaint proceeding and/or opposing a discriminatory practice.
Eugene Scalia is an American lawyer who served as the 28th United States Secretary of Labor during the final 16 months of the Trump administration from 2019 to 2021. Scalia previously served as the United States Solicitor of Labor under President George W. Bush. He is a son of the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.
Becket,also known as the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty,is a non-profit public interest law firm based in Washington,D.C.,that describes its mission as "defending the freedom of religion of people of all faiths". Becket promotes accommodationism and is active in the judicial system,the media,and in education.
Employment discrimination law in the United States derives from the common law,and is codified in numerous state,federal,and local laws. These laws prohibit discrimination based on certain characteristics or "protected categories". The United States Constitution also prohibits discrimination by federal and state governments against their public employees. Discrimination in the private sector is not directly constrained by the Constitution,but has become subject to a growing body of federal and state law,including the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Federal law prohibits discrimination in a number of areas,including recruiting,hiring,job evaluations,promotion policies,training,compensation and disciplinary action. State laws often extend protection to additional categories or employers.
Sexual orientation discrimination is discrimination based on a person's sex,sexual orientation,gender identity,or pregnancy.
Jane Lang is an American lawyer,arts philanthropist,and arts education promoter. She has been characterized as a neighborhood activist,the primary force responsible for revitalizing a run-down area of Washington,D.C. She is the daughter of entrepreneur and philanthropist Eugene Lang,and the older sister of actor Stephen Lang.
Samuel Robert Bagenstos is an American attorney and academic who is the General Counsel of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. From January 2021 until June 2022,he served as the general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget. He is a former law professor at the University of Michigan,a job he returned to after serving for two years as the principal deputy assistant attorney general in the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez.
CRST The Transportation Solution,Inc. is an American freight company based in Cedar Rapids,Iowa.
Victoria Ann Lipnic is an American lawyer and public figure. She served in multiple senior United States government positions. She was Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC),nominated to two terms by President Barack Obama,2010 –2020.) She served as Chair (Acting) of the EEOC under President Donald J. Trump from 2017 –2019. Prior to her appointments to the EEOC,she was Assistant Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush. The United States Senate confirmed her unanimously to each of these positions.
Starting in 2016,players for the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) have engaged in a series of legal actions against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). These legal actions detail the unequal treatment and compensation of the USWNT,as compared to the U.S. men's national soccer team (USMNT). The process of achieving equal pay and treatment started with a federal complaint submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016,with notable moments throughout 2017,2019,2020,and 2022. The fight for equal treatment and compensation has received widespread media attention,inspired legislative action in the U.S. Senate,and received fan support. The 2021 documentary film,LFG also details the story of the U.S. women's national soccer team and their fight for equal pay. A landmark equal pay agreement was reached in February 2022.
Eric Stefan Dreiband is an American lawyer. While a partner at Jones Day,he was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. The Senate confirmed his appointment on October 11,2018.
Shannon Liss-Riordan is an American labor attorney. She is best known for her class-action cases against companies such as Uber,FedEx,and Starbucks. Liss-Riordan was a candidate in the 2020 United States Senate election in Massachusetts,unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Ed Markey for his senate seat.
Jenny Rae Yang is an American attorney and public official. In 2021,Yang was appointed by President Joe Biden to serve as the Director of Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs,an agency within the Department of Labor.
SeemaNanda is an American government official currently serving as the United States solicitor of labor in the Biden administration.
Jennifer Ann Abruzzo is an American attorney and government official who serves as General Counsel at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). She previously was Special Counsel for Strategic Initiatives for Communications Workers of America (CWA),the largest media and communications union in the United States. She had previously worked for the NLRB for over 20 years in a number of positions,including Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel.
Owen Diaz v. Tesla was a discrimination lawsuit filed against electric car manufacturer Tesla,Inc. The plaintiff,Owen Diaz,was an elevator operator at the Tesla Fremont Factory in California between 2015 and 2016. The lawsuit stated that Diaz faced constant harassment including racial slurs. According to the state's Department of Fair Employment and Housing,the Fremont factory was racially segregated and Black workers testified that they were subjected to racist slurs,racial drawings,and were given the most menial and physically demanding work. Working conditions at the plant were so unacceptable,the department stated,that many Black employees had been forced to quit. J. Bernard Alexander III,one of Diaz's lawyers,told jurors that the use of the “n-word”was pervasive and virtually everywhere at Fremont factory.
Charlotte A. Burrows is an American attorney and government official. Since 2021,Burrows has served as Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Burrows first joined the agency as a commissioner in 2015,and previously served as an associate deputy attorney general. A member of the Democratic Party,Burrows also served as an aide and counsel to Senator Ted Kennedy.
Kalpana Kotagal is an American employment attorney who is a commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Jeffrey Irvine Cummings is an American lawyer from Illinois,who has served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois since 2023. He previously served as a United States magistrate judge of the same court from 2019 to 2023.
Sharon Fast Gustafson is an American attorney who served as General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from 2019 to 2021.