Ranking Member Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) Opening Remarks for Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Hearing on “Examining the Regulatory and Enforcement Actions of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission"
WASHINGTON, DC – The following are prepared remarks by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, for the hearing on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
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Good morning. I want to thank Chairman Walberg for calling today's hearing to examine the important work the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is undertaking through the leadership of the Commission's chair Jacqueline Berrien. Chair Berrien, I want to thank you for being with us today to update the subcommittee on the work of the EEOC.
The work of the EEOC is critical, particularly when we look to the challenges facing the unemployed in our nation. Even as the economy has improved, with 7.5 unemployment rate last month, the unemployment gap has remained high for minorities – for African Americans, it was 13.2 percent and for Latinos, 9.0 in April. And we know, as labor economists and experts point to, that discrimination remains one of factors for the disparity.
Every worker in this country- whether a job applicant or employee- deserves the right to be treated fairly in the workplace and judged based upon ability to do the job. The foundation of our civil rights laws is to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to participate in society, to provide for themselves and their families, and to contribute to the economy.
Unfortunately, far too often workers are not hired, paid less or fired from their jobs because they are a woman, or a pregnant woman, or an African American or have a disability.
The EEOC plays an essential role in ensuring fairness and equal opportunity in the workplace through its enforcement of our federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against an employee or job applicant because of that person's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information.
Despite these protections, nearly 100,000 new charges of discrimination were filed with the EEOC last year. And despite the Commission's efforts to achieve resolutions in these cases, they continue to have a backlog which stands to grow as a result of budget cuts and sequester.
Congress has a responsibility to this nation's workers to ensure that should they become a victim of workplace discrimination, they have a place to seek justice.
I'm proud that the Democratic –led 110th and 111th Congresses, under the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, made critical improvements to this nation's civil rights laws through the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. Also, passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act restored the law to what it was prior to the misguided Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter vs. Goodyear.
Despite the progress we have made, there is still much left to be done. And I believe there are many issues where Democrats and Republicans can join together to strengthen our civil rights laws.
The Employment Nondiscrimination Act, which I am proud to cosponsor, would prohibit discrimination in the workplace because of someone's sexual orientation or gender identity was recently introduced in both the House and Senate with both Democratic and Republican co-sponsors.
I urge Chairman Walberg and Chairman Kline to work with Representatives Polis and Ros-Lehtinen, the bill's bipartisan sponsors, to bring this long overdue legislation back before the Committee for its immediate consideration.
I would also urge Chairmen Walberg and Kline to work with us on the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. This legislation has been modified since it was originally brought before the Committee under Chairman Miller's leadership and is now a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Grassley and Harkin in the Senate. I believe we too could find common ground on this bill to protect this nation's older workers.
In addition, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which has been passed twice by this House on a bipartisan basis should be brought up for immediate consideration so that gender-based pay discrimination is finally put on equal footing with our other civil rights laws.
Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you again for holding this hearing. I am confident we can find opportunities to work together to strengthen this nation's civil rights laws. I also want to once again thank Chair Berrien for being before us today and thank her for her dedication and hard work on behalf of this nation's workers.
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