Democrat Kalpana Kotagal Sworn in as Newest EEOC Commissioner

Kalpana Kotagal has been sworn in as an EEOC commissioner, providing the five-member panel with a Democratic majority, and breaking a partisan deadlock that has slowed agency action.

She was sworn in by the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Charlotte Burrows, on Wednesday.

Ohio-native Kotagal, formerly a longtime civil rights and employment attorney at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC in Washington, D.C., brings to the agency plaintiffs-side bona fides that include representing workers in discrimination class actions against large companies and organizations such as the Salvation Army and Wal-Mart Inc.

Her addition to the commission is expected ...