Senate finally confirms Kalpana Kotagal as EEOC commissioner

On Thursday July 13, the U.S. Senate confirmed Kalpana Kotagal as the fifth commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) 49 to 47, finally giving the Biden administration the three Democratic members needed to move its agenda forward.

Kotagal, a highly qualified attorney previously with the civil rights law firm of Cohen Milstein, was nominated by President Joe Biden in April 2022 to replace former Republican commissioner and former EEOC Chair Janet Dhillon. After the Senate HELP Committee deadlocked on Kotagal’s nomination last year, President Biden had to renominate her this year.

The HELP Committee approved Kotagal’s nomination in March, leading to her confirmation after Vice President Kamala Harris provided the 51st vote in the cloture vote.

What to expect from Biden EEOC

Kotagal’s confirmation as the fifth EEOC commissioner gives Chair Charlotte Burrows a majority of three Democratic commissioners for the first time. Among the top items the newly constituted majority is expected to undertake is a reconstituted pay data collection. The EEOC received the long-awaited report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on the previous pay data collection last summer, which indicated many problems. However, Chair Burrows and Vice Chair Jocelyn Samuels both have indicated support for a new pay data collection to identify red flags of discrimination.