Leslie E. Silverman is a shareholder at Fortney & Scott, LLC where she counsels and advises clients on complying with workplace laws, dealing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, other government agencies and Congress, and on a wide range of workplace issues, including harassment, pay equity, disability discrimination, employment screening, and diversity and inclusion. Ms. Silverman represents clients before the EEOC and other government agencies and conducts high-level investigations. She is currently serving as an consent decree monitor in connection with EEOC sexual and racial harassment and disability discrimination class action settlements and on a Fortune 50 company’s external diversity advisory board.

Ms. Silverman served as the Vice Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission until September 2008, and as a Member of the Commission starting in 2002. As a Member of the EEOC, Ms. Silverman oversaw the development and approval of enforcement policies, authorized litigation, and issued Commissioner’s charges of discrimination.

While at the Commission, Ms. Silverman initiated and led the EEOC’s Systemic Task Force, which examined the EEOC’s efforts at combating systemic discrimination. In April 2006, the Commission unanimously adopted the Task Force recommendations. Ms. Silverman also helped spearhead the Commission’s examination of discrimination against workers with caregiving responsibilities, and this effort culminated in the issuance of EEOC enforcement guidance. During her tenure on the Commission, Ms. Silverman led an effort to expand and enhance the EEOC’s mediation program in partnership with the American Bar Association.

Ms. Silverman served on the Society for Human Resource Management’s Labor Experts Panel from 2009-2014. She has also served as an EEO expert in a number of private-sector diversity initiatives, including the Center for Worklife Law’s Family Responsibilities Discrimination Management Brain Trust; the Center for Work-Life Policy’s “Hidden Brain Drain” Task Force; the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2008 Leadership Summit on Diversity and Inclusion Issues in the 21st Century; and the World Diversity Leadership Summit. Ms. Silverman served on a special expert’s panel charged with addressing gender diversity at the United Nations, and in 2008, Ms. Silverman was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva.

Immediately prior to joining the EEOC, Ms. Silverman served for five years as Labor Counsel to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee under Chairman James M. Jeffords and Ranking Member Judd Gregg. As Labor Counsel, Ms. Silverman was responsible for the oversight of the EEOC and the Department of Labor and for handling all employment discrimination, Fair Labor Standards Act, and Family Medical Leave Act legislation on behalf of the Committee.

Ms. Silverman is a frequent speaker on EEO law and the EEOC, both in the United States and abroad.