On Tuesday, President Obama submitted to the Senate the nomination of Republican Victoria Lipnic to be a Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Lipnic currently practices management-side labor and employment law. Before entering private practice, Lipnic served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment Standards from 2002 until 2009, where she oversaw the Employment Standards Administration (ESA). Lipnic has also worked as Workforce Policy Counsel to the Republican members of the House Committee on Education and Labor, and as labor and employment in-house counsel for the U.S. Postal Service. During the Reagan administration, Lipnic served as a special assistant for business liaison to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige.

Earlier this year, Obama nominated Democrats Jacqueline Berrien to serve as the agency’s Chair, and Chai Feldblum to be an EEOC member. It is likely that all three nominees will be considered as a package. Current members Acting Chairman Stuart Ishimaru and Acting Vice Chair Christine Griffin are both Democrats, while Commissioner Constance Barker is the lone Republican serving on the five-seat Commission. Republican Naomi Earp, who served as EEOC Chair during the Bush Administration, resigned in the spring. Acting Vice Chair Griffin – who has been confirmed to serve as the deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management – is allowed to remain on the Commission until a successor is approved. If Lipnic’s nomination is confirmed, she will serve as EEOC Commissioner until July 1, 2015.