May 9, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 77 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S2766-S2767]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CONFIRMATION OF JANET DHILLON

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I opposed the confirmation of Janet 
Dhillon to Chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC 
is an independent Federal agency with an absolutely vital mission: 
enforcing Federal laws against employment discrimination. But Ms. 
Dhillon has spent her career protecting corporations that are accused 
of discrimination by their workers.
  As a leader of the Retail Litigation Center, she advocated legal 
positions designed to undermine workplace protections, especially low-
income women and women of color.
  The Retail Litigation Center helped defend Walmart against wage 
discrimination claims filed by 1.6 million women who worked at Walmart. 
In doing so, they managed to convince the Supreme Court to raise the 
legal barriers for all workers to bring discrimination claims.
  In a different case, this one involving racial harassment against an 
African-American woman, the Retail Litigation Center convinced the 
Supreme Court to narrow the legal definition of a supervisor. This 
means that workers are now less able to hold their employers 
accountable for workplace harassment.
  Both of these were 5-4 decisions that were supported by only the 
Republican Justices on the Supreme Court.
  All workers need an EEOC that is looking out for them, but Ms. 
Dhillon's nomination to Chair the EEOC is yet another way that the 
Trump administration keeps rigging the system for

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their corporate allies and stacking the deck against working people.

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