Former EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows on the State of Workplace Protections

Live from Denver and the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section Annual Conference, a conversation with guest Charlotte Burrows on gender discrimination and the status of the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).  Host Matt Greer talks in person with Burrows, the former chair of the EEOC and a fellow at both the University of California Berkeley’s Applied Technology Policy group and the New York University School of Law.  When most people spend the majority of their adult lives working, Burrows says there’s nothing more important than workplace protections against discrimination, sexual harassment, and abuse, regardless of sex and gender identity.  Today, recent attempts to roll back many protections have brought the mission of the EEOC into the spotlight. Hear from a lifelong fighter for workers’ rights about how the tug of war over conflicting interpretations of the law, along with staffing cutbacks and shortages at the EEOC, are impacting workplace rights, protections, and case processing.  Also, a few minutes with Salomon Chiquiar-Rabinovich Ph.D., 2025 winner of the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section’s Honorable Bernice B. Donald Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Profession Award. Chiquiar-Rabinovich came to the US from Mexico and shares his inspiring story of immigration, his thirst for knowledge, and overcoming challenges and a disability in his service to others. Live from Denver and the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section Annual Conference, a conversation with guest Charlotte Burrows on gender discrimination and the status of the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).  Host Matt Greer talks in person with Burrows, the former chair of the EEOC and a fellow at both the University of California Berkeley’s Applied Technology Policy group and the New York University School of Law.  When most people spend the majority of their adult lives working, Burrows says there’s nothing more important than workplace protections against discrimination, sexual harassment, and abuse, regardless of sex and gender identity.  Today, recent attempts to roll back many protections have brought the mission of the EEOC into the spotlight. Hear from a lifelong fighter for workers’ rights about how the tug of war over conflicting interpretations of the law, along with staffing cutbacks and shortages at the EEOC, are impacting workplace rights, protections, and case processing.  Also, a few minutes with Salomon Chiquiar-Rabinovich Ph.D., 2025 winner of the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section’s Honorable Bernice B. Donald Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Profession Award. Chiquiar-Rabinovich came to the US from Mexico and shares his inspiring story of immigration, his thirst for knowledge, and overcoming challenges and a disability in his service to others. Mentioned in This Episode: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, Wikipedia EEOLeaders.org  EEOC Title VII The ABA Labor and Employment Law Section 2026 Annual Conference is scheduled for Nov. 4-7, 2026 in Washington, DC  ABA Labor and Employment Law Section