In his first week in office, Trump has appointed a new Acting Chair for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Andrea R. Lucas. A statement published on the EEOC’s website announcing the appointment highlights Lucas’ priority of “intend[ing] to dispel the notion that only the ‘right sort of’ charging party is welcome through [the EEOC] doors and to reinforce instead the fundamental belief enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and our civil rights laws—that all people are ‘created equal.’” She expressed her commitment to “ensuring equal justice under the law and to focusing on equal opportunity, merit, and colorblind equality.”
Lucas further signaled a change in the priorities of the EEOC, stating:
I look forward to restoring evenhanded enforcement of employment civil rights laws for all Americans. In recent years, this agency has remained silent in the face of multiple forms of widespread, overt discrimination. Consistent with the President’s Executive Orders and priorities, my priorities will include rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination; protecting American workers from anti-American national origin discrimination; defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights, including women’s rights to single‑sex spaces at work; protecting workers from religious bias and harassment, including antisemitism; and remedying other areas of recent under-enforcement.
The full text of her statement is available on the EEOC’s website. Contact a member of the Sandberg Phoenix Employment and Labor Law Team with any questions regarding the impact of the new administration on employment law.
