EEOC AND NLRB RENEW PARTNERSHIP TO RECRUIT DIVERSE POOL OF TALENTED ATTORNEYS

Honor Program Trains, Develops Entry-Level Lawyers for Careers in Federal Service

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today renewed a highly successful interagency Attorney Honor Program designed to attract a broad range of talented entry-level attorneys with a demonstrated interest in civil rights or labor and employment law.

     

The highly competitive program, launched in March 2000, has provided the EEOC and NLRB with a diverse pool of 300-400 applicants per year for permanent positions, from which the agencies hire an average of five.  Each participant must make a three-year commitment.  The program includes a detail component allowing for work in different legal offices within both agencies.

     

EEOC Chair Cari M. Dominguez and NLRB Chairman Robert J. Battista today signed a Memorandum of Understanding that extends the agreement through Dec. 31, 2007, extendable at any time by mutual consent.

     

"The Attorney Honor Program has proven a real success story of the federal government, and we're thrilled to renew our partnership with the NLRB," EEOC Chair Dominguez said during a ceremony today at agency headquarters to renew the Memorandum of Understanding on the program.  "Through the program, we have developed skilled legal policy experts and litigators who will help us advance toward the goal of a discrimination-free American workplace."

     

NLRB Chairman Battista said: "Our agencies' Honor Programs have served well to attract the best and the brightest new attorneys to public service in the highly charged field of labor and employment law.  It is my hope and expectation that this cooperative endeavor between the NLRB and the EEOC will lead to other joint programs that will provide us with further opportunities to better serve the public."

           

Applicants come from a broad and diverse background, including third-year law students, judicial law clerks, and graduate law students.  Each J.D. graduate 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.  Selection criteria 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 is 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 the Chairman, 1099 14th Street, N.W., Room 11100, Washington, D.C. 20570. Application material, as well as additional information about the EEOC and the NLRB, will be posted on the web sites of both agencies at www.eeoc.gov/soars/jobs-honor.html 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.