Ms. Leslie E. Silverman, Vice Chair of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) visited the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) from Oct. 12 to Oct. 13. EEOC is the federal agency responsible for enforcing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act and Age Discrimination in Employment Act since 1978 and the Americans with Disabilities Act since 1990. Vice Chair Silverman worked at the EEOC from March 2002 as a commissioner and was appointed as the Vice Chair on September 2006.
The Vice Chair" s agenda in Korea included participation in a workshop on the " Recent Trends and Progress of Antidiscrimination in the US focusing on Sex Discrimination and Equal Pay" as a keynote speaker, in a discussion forum on " Current Issues and Perspectives on Sex Discrimination and Sexual harassment in the US" both hosted by the NHRCK and also a lecture for investigators at Equal Employment Division in the Ministry of Labor.
At the workshop, the Vice Chair briefly introduced the workings of the EEOC and explained about the employment discrimination legislation in the US and the grounds of employment discrimination under the law focusing on equal pay and sex discrimination issues. The Vice Chair also introduced some major US cases on sex discrimination in employment and mentioned about the standards of judgement in determining what constitutes sex discrimination and sexual harassment under the law. The discussion forum touched on a similar topic, but with representatives from various women" s organizations in Korea participating. as panel members. The discussion focused on some of the major areas of sex discrimination in employment such as hiring, promotion, equal pay, sexual harassment, etc and the court cases brought by the EEOC that were successfully litigated in relation to these issues.
The Vice Chair" s speeches and comments provided a useful and valuable insight into how the US deals with sex discrimination and sexual harrassment cases in the workplace that will be a good reference point and guidance for investigators at the NHRCK in investigating similar cases.
