Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

APPOINTED in 1995, William R. Tamayo has been serving as the Regional Attorney for the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, San Francisco District (EEOC). The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.

During his tenure with the EEOC, he has obtained significant settlements, including winning a $250 million for disabled public safety officers in Arnett & EEOC v. California Public Employee Retirement System; $2.5 million for black avionics electrician harassed and fired in EEOC v. Lockheed-Martin; $2 million for women denied sales and service jobs in EEOC v. Les Schwab Tires; and $1.855 million for sexually harassed and retaliated farm workers in EEOC v. Tanimura & Antle, among other suits.

According to his bio, he currently directs the Commission’s litigation and legal program in Northern California, Northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana.

Prior to his appointment, he served as a staff attorney and the Managing Attorney for the Asian Law Caucus. Inc. where he emphasized the practice of immigration and nationality law and civil rights litigation and advocacy involving employment discrimination, affirmative action, immigrant rights, voting rights, and the Census.

He’s received numerous awards for his work including the Immigrant Legal Resource Center’s award for Lawyering in 1990, the Judge John Minor Wisdom Award from the American Bar Association, a 1993 Charles Bannerman Memorial Fellowship, the 1995 Carol King Award from the National Lawyers Guild National Immigration Project, the 1999 Jesse De La Cruz Community Service Award from California Rural Legal Assistance, the 2004 Joe Morozumi Award for Exceptional Legal Advocacy from the Asian American Bar Association, the 2004 Achievement Award from Filipinas magazine, the 2004 Accomplishment Award from the Asian Pacific Fund, and a 2005 Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, according to his bio.

Tamayo graduated from the San Francisco State University magna cum laude and received his law degree from the University of California at Davis, King Hall.

According to a news station in San Francisco, like recently appointed California Chief Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye, Tamayo also had a Filipino father who worked on plantations in Hawaii.