Background
President John F. Kennedy on March 6, 1961 signed Executive Order 10925, which required government contractors to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." It established the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity of which then Vice President Lyndon Johnson was appointed to head. This was the forerunner of the EEOC.
The EEOC was established on July 2, 1965; its mandate is specified under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008.
All Commission seats and the post of general counsel to the commission are filled by the President of the U.S. subject to confirmation by the Senate. Stuart J. Ishimaru, a Commissioner who was Senate-confirmed in 2003 and 2006, served as Acting Chair of the Commission from January 20, 2009 until December 22, 2010, when the U.S. Senate confirmed Jacqueline Berrien to be the chairman. She had been nominated as chairman by President Barack Obama in July 2009. In September 2009, Obama chose Chai Feldblum to fill another vacant seat,. Feldblum has been reported by Fox News to be controversial among conservatives and certain religious groups because of her prior activism on gay rights.
On March 27, 2010, Obama made recess appointments of three Commission posts: Berrien, Feldblum and Victoria Lipnic. With the appointments, the Commission had its full complement of five commissioners: Ishimaru, Berrien, Feldblum, Lipnic and Constance Barker, who was confirmed by the Senate in 2008 to be a Commissioner. Obama also made a recess appointment of P. David Lopez to be the EEOC's General Counsel.
On December 22, 2010, the Senate gave full confirmation to Berrien, Feldblum, Lipnic and Lopez.
Read more about this topic: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
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