On April 25, 2013, the Senate confirmed Jenny R. Yang to be a Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to fill the open Democratic seat. Her term will expire on July 1, 2017.

As previously discussed, Yang comes to the EEOC from private practice, where she specialized in representing employees in civil rights class actions and wage and hour collective actions. Among the priorities of the EEOC’s recently approved Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP) are the enforcement of equal pay laws and focus on systemic cases. Yang’s skillset, therefore, aligns with these goals.

Prior to working in private practice, Yang served as a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) trial attorney in the employment litigation section of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. Yang has also worked as a New York University Community Service Fund attorney fellow at the National Employment Law Project, and as a law clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. According to her attorney profile, Yang is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center and a former Co-Chair of the National Governing Board for the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. She received her law degree from New York University School of Law, and her undergraduate degree in Government from Cornell University.

Yang joins Chair Jacqueline Berrien (D), Constance S. Barker (R), Chai Feldblum (D), and Victoria A. Lipnic (R).