What do you do if you are faced with a charge of discrimination by the EEOC? Key themes to this presentation: 1. Top Ten Tips for employers and the mistakes employers make. 2. A few 'horror' stories to illustrate the difficulties one can get into. 3. How important is the HR function to the bottom line?....And how to sell that somewhat under appreciated concept to higher management. Joan Ehrlich A much honored leader in civil rights enforcement for 35 years, Ms. Ehrlich has devoted her professional life to ending employment discrimination in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas and California. In providing technical assistance and outreach to the public, she has been recognized nationally for her innovative approach to management and civil rights law enforcement. Ms. Ehrlich has pioneered programs in mediation, outreach and customer service. She and her staff have won broad relief for victims of discrimination, creating important precedents along the way. Under Ms. Ehrlich’s leadership, the EEOC has obtained some of the country’s largest settlements, recovering millions of dollars for victims of employment discrimination. Ms. Ehrlich maintains EEOC's high profile by introducing new initiatives. In 2005 the San Francisco District Office won 5 national awards and 2 regional awards for its outreach efforts. The office has received wide acclaim for initiating a “Justice and Equality Program” designed to educate Hispanic immigrants about their rights under EEOC, Department of Labor and OSHA laws. The program, in Houston, was the first of its kind in the country, an unusual collaboration among four foreign embassies, (Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and El Salvador); the Houston Mayor’s Office; the Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division; the Occupational, Safety and Health Administration; and the Department of Justice Immigrants’ Rights Division. Additional partners include the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) and the Catholic Diocese. This concept is being replicated in the Asian Community as well, with the EEOC forming a new collaboration called “TIGAR,” The Information Group for Asian Rights. The Justice and Equality Program is now underway in California, in partnership with the Mexican Consulate, and thousands of immigrants are learning about their rights in the workplace. The San Francisco District Office collaborated with TILT and Galileo High School to produce a video aimed at teens about sexual harassment. It has been shown daily on the Education cable channel. As the 1996 Chair of the Houston Federal Executive Board, Ms. Ehrlich helped establish a One-Stop Customer Service Center, the U.S. General Store for Small Business, with participation by federal agencies from throughout the Houston area including City, County, State, and private partners. On March 18, 1996, Ms. Ehrlich was presented the “Hammer Award” personally by Vice President Al Gore for “making government work better and cost less.” Ms. Ehrlich was the Houston YWCA’s 1989 Woman of the Year and Federal Executive of the Year in 1990 and 1996. She was honored by the Federation of Houston Professional Women in 1991 as a “Woman of Distinction,” and by the Houston Post and Texas Executive Women as a 1991 “Women on the Move.” In 1996, The Hispanic Issues Section of the Texas State Bar honored her for Community Service. And in 1997, her office was selected as the Organization of the Year by the Mexican American Bar of Texas. In August 1994, the American G.I. Forum of the United States, a national Hispanic Civil Rights organization, honored Ms. Ehrlich for her outstanding contributions to the Hispanic Community. She was a 1999 nominee for the Ator Award for Legal Improvement given by the College of Law at the University of Houston. In 2000, the Houston Area Women’s Center gave Ms. Ehrlich its “Suffrage Award of the Year” for her work to advance women’s rights. In 2005 she received the Chairman’s Award from the San Francisco Federal Executive Board. Ms. Ehrlich served as Chair of the Northern California Combined Federal Campaign in 2004 and 2005, an effort designed to encourage 70,000 federal employees to donate to one or more of over 2000 charities. The campaign raised over $4 million dollars in 2005 and 3½ million in 2004. As Chair of the Combined Federal Campaign in Houston, she was honored at the White House for her efforts. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Women’s Advocacy Project; the San Francisco Federal Executive Board as the 1st Vice President; American Leadership Forum; Class VII Fellow, is a Leadership Rice University Mentor, and was the Houston Coordinator for “Operation Bearlift” Casa Alianza, Honduras, collecting and sending thousands of Teddy Bears to children who were victims of the floods in 1998. Ms. Ehrlich received a B.S. cum laude from Syracuse University and is a graduate of Harvard University’s Senior Managers in Government at the John F. Kennedy School and the Negotiation Program at Harvard Law School. Ms. Ehrlich is the mother of two children: Scott Hendler, an Austin attorney whose practice is devoted to representing victims of occupational disease and toxic injury; and Stacey Hendler-Ross, formerly a television news reporter for ABC station KGO in San Francisco. .