EEOC Gives Chair Power to Deny Policy Shift Meeting Requests (1)

The EEOC’s Republican majority voted to remove procedures that gave individual commissioners the guaranteed ability to urge the civil rights agency to hold a public or private discussion on policy and enforcement shifts.

By a 2-1 vote Wednesday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rescinded Biden-era guidelines that also outlined the timeline for the chair to circulate related documents ahead of votes.

The move gives the EEOC’s Trump-appointed Chair Andrea Lucas the power to deny commissioner requests for public meetings ahead of anticipated policy changes, if she chooses. Last year under Lucas, the EEOC pursued Trump administration priorities such as reducing transgender discrimination enforcement and issuing guidance about potentially discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

Lucas said she intends to honor commissioners’ ability to request votes. Democratic Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal, who opposed the measure, raised concerns about the lack of power to hold the chair accountable to that pledge.

Republican Commissioner Brittany Panuccio voted with Lucas in favor of the rescission.

It was the first EEOC meeting held during Trump’s second term, after Panuccio’s confirmation in October restored the agency’s voting quorum.

The voting procedures adopted by the commission last January, ahead of the change in administration, outlined the ability for EEOC members to vote to “agenda” an item. By doing so, commissioners were requesting either a public or private meeting to further discuss a matter before a vote.

The chair had discretion to choose whether and when to put an item on the agenda. However, the item could not be voted on until the meeting was held, or the commissioner withdrew their request for the meeting, based on those procedures.

Commission Transparency

Lucas said she is committed to transparency, and will grant agenda votes “wherever possible.”

A memo with similar procedures will be issued later, she added.

Although the procedures were only put in place at the end of the Biden administration, historically most chairs honored agenda requests and held the meetings. During the first Trump administration, though, Chair Janet Dhillon at times did not, Kotagal said.

“Once the current voting procedures are rescinded, however, there is no way for any commissioner to hold the chair to this promise,” Kotagal said.

She offered two motions during the meeting. One would have postponed the vote for three months to re-evaluate how the chair would handle such requests. The other would have suspended the procedures for a three-month re-evaluation, rather than a rescission.

The Republican commissioners rejected both motions.

Panuccio said she is confident the chair won’t move ahead with items “secretly or silently.”

“We are proud of the work we are doing here at the EEOC,” she added.

The EEOC is expected to move ahead with policy proposals, including anticipated revisions to its Pregnant Workers Fairness Act rules. The EEOC already proposed to rescind the agency’s anti-harassment guidance without a public comment period in a request to the White House.

The two Biden-era policies could now be subject to votes without a public meeting.

“We have been charged by the president and Congress to execute a robust civil rights agenda, and we are going to be moving through a lot of items,” Lucas said. “We will do so transparently but we will do so efficiently.”