Hearing of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and the Workforce Committee - Opening Statement of Rep. Takano, Hearing on the Need for More Responsible Regulatory and Enforcement Policies at the EEOC

Hearing

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
It's been more than fifty-years since the enactment of the Civil Rights
Act of 1965 and the creation of the EEOC. In that time, the EEOC has
been on the forefront of fighting discrimination in the workplace for all
people, and its work is needed now more than ever.
Race, gender, disability, and age discrimination still persist today. In
Fiscal Year 2016, the EEOC received a record total of 91,503 charges:
35% were based on race, 29% were based on sex, 29% were based on
disability status, and 22.8% were based on age discrimination. This
evidence demonstrates that there is still a need for robust civil rights
protections in the workplace.
We are here today to discuss the EEOC's regulatory and enforcement
policies. If past is prologue, then I'm sure we will hear from witnesses
and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claiming that the EEOC
has overstepped its bounds in pursuing an "aggressive litigation
strategy" and in its enforcement guidance. I do not believe this is the
case. With a more diverse workforce the EEOC's charge is more
difficult than ever before and Congress should empower the EEOC to
ensure that all people feel welcome in their workplace.
There is so much more work the EEOC needs to do.
Take for example the issue of pay discrimination. We are in the 21 st
Century. The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963 and the Lilly Ledbetter
Act in 2009. Why is the wage gap still an issue for millions of working
women in our nation?
On average, working women make 83 cents for every dollar that a
typical white man makes. And census data shows that for women of
color the wage gap is even worse: on average black women earn 65
cents to the dollar, Hispanic women earn 59 cents, and some AAPI
women earn as little as 44 cents. That is why I support the recent update
to the EEO-1 pay data collection form.
If we don't have accurate data, we won't be able to solve this persistent
problem. While the updated EE0-1 form won't eliminate pay
discrimination on its own, it's an important step. The data that this form
will now collect will help the EEOC asses where discrimination is and
help the Commission work to put an end to it.
The work of the EEOC ensures that there is fundamental fairness in the
workplace.
This is what the Commission sought to do with its 2012 arrest and
conviction guidance. By clarifying when and how an employer can use
arrest and conviction records, the EEOC was simply providing guidance
to employers to ensure that they were being fair in hiring and
employment decisions. This was not a mandate to tell employers that
they can't use criminal background checks, but rather an effort to ensure
fairness to all workers. In fact, the fundamentals of that enforcement
guidance came from the pivotal case of Griggs v. Duke and previous
EEOC memos. And over 150 cities and counties and 26 states already
have adopted what is widely known as "ban the box" laws.
Mr. Chair, I hope that our discussion today can center around the
continued work the EEOC needs to do to end discrimination in the
workplace.

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