EEOC AND NLRB JOIN FORCES TO RECRUIT DIVERSE POOL OF TALENTED ATTORNEYS IN CIVIL RIGHTS AND LABOR LAW

WASHINGTON  - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to create and implement an interagency Attorney Honor Program.  The program is designed to expand the application process and attract a broad range of talent among entry level attorneys with a demonstrated interest in civil rights or labor and employment law.

"This innovative program will attract the best and brightest of today's new legal minds to federal government service and enhance civil rights enforcement," said EEOC Chairwoman Ida L. Castro. "By widening the pool of applicants, thereby expanding opportunities for all candidates, we will promote diversity while buttressing the legal expertise of both agencies."

NLRB General Counsel Leonard R. Page said: "The Honor Program will greatly benefit each of our agencies' efforts to ensure a diverse and highly skilled corps of attorneys.  I am also pleased that the Honor Program will provide our attorneys with opportunities to serve temporary legal assignments in each other's agency.  This training will certainly serve to strengthen the skills of our agencies' attorneys, as well as aid in the development of best practices for both agencies through the cross- fertilization of ideas concerning agency operations."

The Attorney Honor Program will focus on recruiting and hiring third-year law students, full-time graduate law students, and judicial law clerks for permanent agency positions starting in October 2000 (the start of the new fiscal year).  Attorneys hired under the program will be trained for highly skilled legal work within each agency and be assigned to challenging positions that offer valuable experience and substantial individual responsibility.

In addition, the Honor Program attorneys will have the opportunity to work at different agency offices within both the EEOC and the NLRB.  All J.D. graduates must pass a bar examination within 14 months of starting the program and be duly licensed to practice as an attorney in a state, territory or the District of Columbia.

Applications for the program must be received by Monday, April 3, 2000.  Selection criteria will include: academic achievement, class rank, law review or other publication work, and extracurricular activities such as moot court competition, legal clinic work, and summer and part-time employment.  Particular attention will be given to applicants who have shown an interest in pursuing civil rights or labor and employment law issues, as well as to those with demonstrated leadership skills and dedication to public service.

Interested candidates may obtain application material by writing to: EEOC Headquarters, Attorney Honor Program, c/o Office of Federal Operations, 1801 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20507 or NLRB, Attorney Honor Program, c/o Office of General Counsel, 1099 14th Street, N.W., Room 10100, Washington, D.C. 20570. Application material, as well as additional information about the EEOC and the NLRB, will also soon be posted on the web sites of both agencies at www.eeoc.gov and www.nlrb.gov.

The EEOC enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; the Equal Pay Act; Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits employment discrimination against people with disabilities in the private sector and state and local governments; prohibitions against discrimination affecting individuals with disabilities in the federal government; and sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1991.

Since 1935, when Congress created the National Labor Relations Board as an independent federal agency charged with administering the primary law governing relations among employees, their unions, and employers, the agency has been protecting the public interest by promoting industrial peace.  The federal statute that the agency administers, the National Labor Relations Act, guarantees the right of employees to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers, or to refrain from all such activity.  The Act implements the national labor policy of assuring freedom of choice and encouraging collective bargaining.