What to do if you are served with a charge of discrimination by the EEOC?

Speaker profile at the Onrec Expo 2007 Conference - Joan Ehrlich, District Director, US. EEOC, San Francisco District

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. Ehrlichís leadership, the EEOC has obtained some of the countryís 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 ìJustice and Equality Programî 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 Mayorís Office; the Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division; the Occupational, Safety and Health Administration; and the Department of Justice Immigrantsí 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 ìTIGAR,î 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 ìHammer Awardî personally by Vice President Al Gore for ìmaking government work better and cost less.î

Ms. Ehrlich was the Houston YWCAís 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 ìWoman of Distinction,î and by the Houston Post and Texas Executive Women as a 1991 ìWomen on the Move.î 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 Womenís Center gave Ms. Ehrlich its ìSuffrage Award of the Yearî for her work to advance womenís rights. In 2005 she received the Chairmanís 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 3 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 Womenís 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 ìOperation Bearliftî 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 Universityís 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.

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