A man who sued his college after being suspended over a rape allegation was hired into a powerful position at the federal agency tasked with defending workers against workplace discrimination, including sex discrimination.

Benjamin North, who maintained his innocence during the lawsuit, went on to become an attorney who took public stances against what he characterized as the excesses of Title IX, the law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded education.

Less than eight years after his case was closed following an agreement with the university, North has quietly become the new assistant general counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to a screenshot of the agency’s employee directory and an agency employee who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation.

“You need people in that office who understand that their job is to uphold the law and to apply the law faithfully.”

North now reports directly to Acting General Counsel Catherine Eschbach, according to the employee.

“The general counsel’s office is an incredibly important part of the EEOC,” said Jenny Yang, a partner at the law firm Outten & Golden and a former EEOC chair. The general counsel holds the power to decide which employers to sue and over which issues, and oversees litigation brought in the agency’s 15 regional offices, and assistant general counsels help coordinate litigation “for the entire agency,” Yang said. They often review cases and their evidence to evaluate the merits and help determine whether the agency should invest its limited resources into pursuing a suit, she said.

“You need people in that office who understand that their job is to uphold the law and to apply the law faithfully,” she said. (Neither North nor the EEOC responded to requests for comment.)

North’s role........

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