# Nina Rothchild *Minnesota official credited with authoring the state's Pay Equity Act and later appointed Commissioner of Employee Relations.* Nina Rothchild was a Minnesota official whose recorded career runs from the drafting of the state's [[Pay equity]] law to its implementation inside state government. A [[Minnesota]] Management and Budget account lists her as executive director of the Council on Economic Status of Women in 1977.[^1] The same account credits her with authoring the Pay Equity Act through that council in 1982.[^1] It also records that Rudy Perpich appointed her Commissioner of Employee Relations in 1983.[^1] The Minnesota Legislative Reference Library holds a biographical record for her.[^2] In 1987 Rothchild and Bonnie Watkins published *Pay Equity in Minnesota: The Facts Are In* in *SAGE*, Vol. 7, No. 3.[^3] On January 14, 2026, the [[United States Department of Justice]] Office of Public Affairs issued release No. 26-21, titled *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*. In that title the United States calls the State's apparatus "Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime". The release states that Attorney General Pamela Bondi certified the case as a matter of general public importance.[^4] The evidence assembled for this article does not give the suit's docket number, court or current status. It also does not show which state instruments the suit challenges, or whether the suit concerns the pay equity program. The project's catalogue of U.S.-government "regime" usages finds no other U.S. state so described; that is the project's catalogue finding, not an independently established fact.[^4] ## Who As executive director of the Council on Economic Status of Women, Rothchild appears in the state's record from 1977.[^1] In 1983 Rudy Perpich appointed her Commissioner of Employee Relations.[^1] The Legislative Reference Library's biographical entry on her is listed among the project's primary sources.[^2] ## What The state's account credits Rothchild with authoring the Pay Equity Act, working through the Council on Economic Status of Women, in 1982.[^1] Five years later she co-wrote a published assessment of the policy with Bonnie Watkins, *Pay Equity in Minnesota: The Facts Are In* (1987).[^3] ## How The state's account frames her 1983 appointment as a shift in role. She had been the author of pay equity through the council, and as Commissioner of Employee Relations she led its implementation from the state side.[^1] The record does not establish her party affiliation, or that of the appointing official.[^1] ## In the Minnesota record ### When - 1977: Rothchild serves as executive director of the Council on Economic Status of Women.[^1] - 1982: The Pay Equity Act is authored by Rothchild through the Council on Economic Status of Women.[^1] - 1983: Rudy Perpich appoints Rothchild Commissioner of Employee Relations, and she leads pay equity implementation from the state side.[^1] - 1987: Rothchild and Bonnie Watkins publish *Pay Equity in Minnesota: The Facts Are In*.[^3] - January 14, 2026: The Department of Justice issues release No. 26-21 announcing a lawsuit against Minnesota.[^4] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Management and Budget, *Pay Equity: The Minnesota Experience* (undated) — records Rothchild as executive director of the Council on Economic Status of Women (1977), author of the Pay Equity Act through the council (1982), and appointee of Rudy Perpich as Commissioner of Employee Relations leading implementation from the state side (1983). https://mn.gov/mmb-stat/pay-equity/Pay_Equity-The%20Minnesota%20Experience.pdf [^2]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, *Nina Rothchild — Biography* (undated) — biographical record of the subject. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?id=2068 [^3]: SAGE, *Pay Equity in Minnesota: The Facts Are In*, Vol. 7, No. 3 (1987) — article by Nina Rothchild and Bonnie Watkins. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0734371X8700700303 [^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, release No. 26-21, *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime* (January 14, 2026) — announces the lawsuit and states that Attorney General Pamela Bondi certified the case as a matter of general public importance. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-department-justice-files-lawsuit-against-minnesotas-affirmative-action-regime