[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 33 (Thursday, February 27, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1229-S1230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO JEAN MANNING

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, Jean Manning is synonymous with the 
Office of the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment. Since establishing 
the Office in 1993 at the direction of the Joint Leadership, Ms. 
Manning has provided invaluable counsel to Senate offices to ensure 
their compliance with applicable employment laws, including the Equal 
Pay Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with 
Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and numerous 
other laws Congress applied to itself when it passed the Government 
Employee Rights Act of 1991 and the Congressional Accountability Act of 
1995. Now, after decades of service to the Senate, Jean is retiring. 
While her retirement is much deserved after a long career, her wise 
counsel will be missed throughout this great institution.
  Ms. Manning, who originally hails from Chicago, began her career as 
she now ends her career--with public service. After receiving a B.A. in 
1972 from the University of Illinois, she took on the important role of 
educating junior high school students. Ms. Manning left teaching to 
further her education, obtaining an M.B.A. and a J.D. from the 
University of Illinois. While pursuing her law degree, Ms. Manning was 
a member and Articles Editor of the University of Illinois Law Review, 
in which she published an article about using multiple regression 
analysis to assess and remedy salary inequity between men and women, a 
subject about which she has always been passionate. Also while in law 
school, Ms. Manning was awarded the Rickert Award for Excellence in 
Legal Writing, an honor that anyone who has reviewed Ms. Manning's 
exceptional legal writing will know was well deserved.
  Following her graduation from law school in 1983, Ms. Manning began 
her legal career in the great State of California, where she honed her 
legal skills as a labor and employment law litigator at several 
prestigious national law firms. Although she eventually moved to the 
East Coast in 1992, Ms. Manning still considers California her home. 
She returns to California several times each year to visit friends and 
family. In retirement, she plans to live in northern California during 
part of each year.
  In the early 1990s, Congress as a workplace underwent a sea change 
when all major employment laws became applicable to Congress. The Joint 
Leadership selected Jean Manning as the Senate's first Chief Counsel 
for Employment to establish and to manage the Office of the Senate 
Chief Counsel for Employment. Ms. Manning's goal was to create a 
nonpartisan, legal defense office in the Senate that would provide top-
tier legal advice and representation to all Senators and Senate offices 
in the area of labor and employment law. Ms. Manning has far exceeded 
her goal. The office she established has a stellar reputation 
throughout the Senate. On a daily basis, the Office of the Senate Chief 
Counsel for Employment advises and trains all Senate offices of their 
obligations under employment laws. Every year, the Office presents over 
70 legal seminars within the Senate to ensure that Senate managers 
understand and adhere to all employment laws when managing their 
offices.
  Ms. Manning also has tirelessly represented Senate employing offices 
at all levels of the Federal court system, including arguing before the 
United States Supreme Court. It is a testament to the high standards 
she set for herself and her entire office that, since its inception 21 
years ago, the Office of the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment has 
never lost a case.
  Throughout her Senate career, Ms. Manning has provided Senators, 
officers and Senate employing offices with unfailingly sound legal 
advice--even at times when she knew her advice might be unpopular. We 
thank her for her exceptional service to the Senate. The Senate is 
losing a great legal advocate, educator and source of institutional 
knowledge. The Senate is a better place for Ms. Manning's outstanding 
service, and she will be missed.

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