EEOC AND NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR WOMEN & FAMILIES TO COMMEMORATE PREGNANCY ACT

PRESS RELEASE
10-24-08

WASHINGTON – Naomi C. Earp, Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), today announced the federal agency will hold a symposium with the National Partnership for Women and Families to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 9 a.m. The event will be held at the headquarters of the National Education Association (NEA) at 1201 16th St., NW.

The keynote address on the history of the PDA will be presented by Wendy Williams, a law professor at Georgetown University. Professor Williams is well known for her work in the area of gender and law, especially concerning issues of work and family, and is the co-author of a recent casebook on gender and law. She helped draft and testified before Congressional committees on the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Her address will be followed by two moderated panel discussions:

Panel I – “Pregnancy Discrimination Today”
Kevin Russell, Moderator
Partner, Howe & Russell, P.C.; instructor, Stanford University Law School, Supreme
Court Litigation Clinic, and the Harvard Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic

“Current PDA Litigation”
Elizabeth Grossman
Regional Attorney, New York District Office, EEOC

“Statistical Analysis of Pregnancy Discrimination Charges”
Jocelyn Frye
General Counsel, National Partnership for Women & Families

“Stereotypes of Pregnant Women/Use of Testers in the PDA”
Eden King
Professor, George Mason University

Panel II – “Future Issues in Pregnancy Discrimination”
Carolyn Wheeler, Moderator
Assistant General Counsel, Appellate Services Division
Office of General Counsel, EEOC

“The Face to the Case – Victims of Pregnancy Discrimination”
Melvina Ford
Executive Director, D.C. Employment Justice Center

“Caregiving Discrimination”
Cynthia Calvert
Co-Director, Project on Attorney Retention, Deputy Director & General Counsel of WorkLife
Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, and solo practitioner in
Maryland counseling small businesses.

“Work-Life Family Balance”
Donna Klein
CEO, Corporate Voices for Working Families, a national business membership organization
representing the private sector on public policy issues involving working families.

“Future Legal Issues”
Jocelyn Samuels
Vice President, Educational and Employment Opportunities
National Women’s Law Center

The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Additional information about the Commission is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.

Founded in 1971, the National Partnership for Women & Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that uses public education and advocacy to promote fairness in the workplace, quality health care, and policies that help women and men meet the dual demands of work and family.

This page was last modified on October 24, 2008.