EEOC Comes to ICTLEP
Washington Pooh-Bah Talks to Trannies


The keynote speaker at ICTLEP sixth annual conference, Transgen ‘97, was Commissioner Reginald E. Jones of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). He is one of four people directing the affairs of the mammoth agency, charged with enforcing all federal statutes concerning employment discrimination. Why did such a distinguished government official appear before a transgendered audience? According to Jones, "When Phyllis Frye asked me to come, that was good enough for me."

Commissioner Jones spoke about the battle to end employment discrimination against transgendered persons. He traced ICTLEP's efforts, starting with Karen Kerin's contacts with Senator Jim Jeffords (R-VT) as early as 1993, through the ICTLEP-organized transgender national events in D.C. in March of 1995, October of 1995, and February of 1997, to recent discussions in his office at the EEOC. He mentioned EEOC's early efforts to use Title VII and its sex-discrimination protections on behalf of transsexuals, and their rebuff by three Federal Appeals Courts. His opinion of these decisions is succinct, "For me it is a matter of intuitive common sense that such discrimination should be included within the sex category of Title VII. ... I think both the result and the basis for the analysis are wrong."

Before his appointment to the EEOC in 1996, Jones worked on Capitol Hill for many years, most recently as Senior Legislative Counsel in the office of Senator James M. Jeffords (R-VT). He discussed the legislative history of ENDA from that perspective, and suggested ways in which the transgender community can work effectively for legislative change.

Commissioner Jones has graciously provided the complete text of his prepared remarks in electronic form. It is available on our Web page (www.abmall.com/ictlep) and in our area on AOL's Transgender Community Forum (Keyword ictlep). Copies may be obtained (attached to email) upon email request to ictlep@aol.com. Please specify whether you prefer ASCII or Word Perfect 6.1 format. Transcripts of the actual speech will be available sometime this fall.

The following background material was provided by the EEOC on their Web page at www.eeoc.gov.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was created by Congress and enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Since 1979, the EEOC also has enforced: the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which protects employees 40 years of age or older; the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination; and Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits federal sector discrimination against persons with disabilities.

On July 26, 1992, EEOC began enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against individuals in the private sector, and in state and local governments based on disability. EEOC is also responsible for enforcing any subsequent changes to the above statutes.

EEOC provides oversight and coordination of all federal regulations, practices and policies affecting equal employment opportunity.

EEOC has five commissioners (one position is currently vacant) and a General Counsel appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Commissioners are appointed for five-year, staggered terms. The term of the General Counsel is four years. The President designates a Chairman and a Vice Chairman. The Chairman is the chief executive officer of the Commission. The five-member Commission makes equal employment opportunity policy and approves most litigation. The General Counsel is responsible for conducting EEOC enforcement litigation, and has the authority to decide whether to litigate basic individual disparate treatment claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

At the time of his nomination [to the Commission], Mr. Jones had served as Senior Legislative Counsel in the office of Senator James M. Jeffords (R-VT), since January of 1993. Previously, from 1989 to 1993, he had been the Minority Counsel and Staff Director of the Labor Subcommittee on the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. Among the duties of this Committee is providing congressional oversight of the activities of the EEOC, which provided him the opportunity to become familiar with the workings of the Commission. Mr. Jones also worked on a wide variety of legislative issues during his years in the Senate, including successful enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, as well as many other, less renowned efforts to revise federal employment civil rights law.


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