William R. Tamayo

Meeting of February 28, 2007, Washington D.C. to Launch E-Race Initiative

WILLIAM R. TAMAYO (Bill Tamayo) was appointed in 1995 as the Regional Attorney for the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, San Francisco District. He currently directs the Commission's litigation and legal program in Northern California, Northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana. From 1979-2005 the San Francisco District covered Northern and Central California, Hawaii, American Samoa, Wake Island, Johnston Island, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

From 1979 – 1995 he was a staff attorney and the Managing Attorney for the Asian Law Caucus. Inc. where he emphasized the practice of immigration and nationality law and civil rights litigation and advocacy involving employment discrimination, affirmative action, immigrant rights, voting rights, and the Census. He was co-counsel for the plaintiff-intervenor in EEOC and Castrejon v. Tortilleria La Major, 785 F. Supp. 585 (E.D. Cal 1991) (undocumented workers are protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) and was on the legal team that developed the immigrant battered women provisions of the Violence Against Women Act.

Mr. Tamayo has served as a speaker and trainer for the American Bar Association, National Employment Lawyers Association, Society of Human Resource Managers, American Immigration Lawyers Association, the State of Hawaii, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the State Bar of California, Latino/a Critical Legal Studies, Association of Defense Counsel, Western Law Professors of Color, and others.

During his tenure as Regional Attorney, the EEOC San Francisco District has achieved significant settlements including among others, Arnett & EEOC v. California Public Employee Retirement System ($250 million for disabled public safety officers); EEOC v. Tanimura & Antle ($1.855 million for farm workers who were sexually harassed), and EEOC v. Herrick Corporation ($1.11 million for 4 Pakistani Muslims harassed at work). In January 2005, his office obtained a nearly $1 million verdict for a farm worker in a sexual harassment lawsuit, EEOC v. Harris Farms.

Mr. Tamayo received the 1990 Award for Lawyering from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the 1993 Judge John Minor Wisdom Award from the American Bar Association (Section on Litigation), a 1993 Charles Bannerman Memorial Fellowship, the 1995 Carol King Award from the National Lawyers Guild National Immigration Project, the 1999 Jesse De La Cruz Community Service Award from California Rural Legal Assistance, the 2004 Joe Morozumi Award for Exceptional Legal Advocacy from the Asian American Bar Association, the 2004 Achievement Award from Filipinas magazine, the 2004 Accomplishment Award from the Asian Pacific Fund, and a 2005 Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. He received his B.A. from San Francisco State University magna cum laude and his law degree (J.D.) from the University of California at Davis, King Hall.

This page was last modified on April 11, 2007.